18 a R E M A R K S' on ' t h e .
exuberance of the foil in fome of the tropical ifles, is perhaps one
of the reafons why fucli a number of their plants belong to the
Linnasan clafles,of monoecia, dioecia, and 'polygamia, and it is remarkable
that plants which, hotanifts have obferved to.be herma-
phrodites in America,s here bear their, male and.female-flowers on
t.wo diftindt fhrubs,’ and this may confirm the opinion, that moil
dioioous-.plants, are fomewhere or.other alfo found.in the. herma=
phrodite. ftate ; which, if it .were general, would entirely ,fet.afide
that clafs: it has likewife often been thought that it would be an
improvement, to the fexual iyftem, if the dalles of. monoecia and
polygamia were expunged, and’their genera placed-according to the
number o f ftamina ; but, if we confider how many of them would
fall to the fhare of fu oh clafles as are already numerous,, it muft be
obvious, that this would only render the fcience more intricate.
The number of five, according to the great Linnieus’s obfervation,
is the moll frequent in nature, (Phil. Bot. 6o)v Hence the clafs
of pentandria is fo crowded with genera; and hence alfo. our acquit
fitions chiefly belong to it. It was,with a kind.of regret,, that we
faw lo many plants accumulating to the increafe of that clafs, which :
was already too extenfive; as thiscircumilance feemed to haften the.
overthrow of the fexual fyllem, it contributed to make us extremely
cautious in. creating new genera. Thofe clafles, which in Europe are
the.
- O R G A N I C B O D I E S ,
the moll copious, the umbellated, the Syngenejia, the Papilionacea, the
Bicornes, the Siliquofa, the Perjbnata-, -.. and the V erticillata,
have very few congeners in the tropical ifles j the beautiful clafles of
Enfata, Coronaria,. Sarmentacece, are .equally rare. The grajfes
are not numerous, and are chiefly of y the clafs of Polygamia. The
Piperita, Scitaminea, Hefperidea, Luridce, . Contorttz, Columniferce,
and Pricoccce, chiefly compofe the Flora of thefe ifles,. . Among the
Orchideee, a-,great variety .of Epidendra inhabit the uncultivated
parts. Moll of them are new, and their flowers fo very various, that
they could be diftinguilhed into-feveral different genera, .with the
fame eafe that botanifts have feparated the Convolvulus. and Ipomcea,
or the Nyblanthes.and J-afminum,_.only from flight differences in the
formation of the flower. The. fpecies.of Convolvuli are-very. copious
in the South-Sea .ifles, and fo clofely connected with each
other, that it becomes very difficult to determine them.- The
genus of peppers ( piper)__ has been placed among the diandria by
Linnaeus ; though he has taken-the grea tell-part of its fpecies upon
the authority of P l u m i e r . . We had opportunities of examining
.many fpecies of it, and always found the number of ftamina irregular
and indeterminate, and the lhape and .number of ftigmata different
in almoft every fpecies : it is therefore but juft, that this genus
fhould be.reftored to the clafs Gyn an d k ia ,. where it properly
belongs, and with which its fructification perfectly agrees. But,
allowing
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