»flie quantity of impregnating dull contained in the male {pike is exceedingly great, though proportioned
l ieed to the aftoniffiing number of feeds in the female fpike below ; if thefe feeds are endowed with a vege-
I tjve power, (and that they are not I cannot aflert from experiment) Nature will appear to have been unu-
, Uy folicitous in the prefervation of this Plant; but it often happens, as elfewhere has been obferved, that
" y of thofe plants which encreafe very much by their roots feldom produce perfect feed, as in the Money-
Ityort, Butterbur, Water Violet, &c. here indeed the feed appears to come to its greateft perfection ; they are,
jt is true, exceedingly minute, but this is no argument againft their growth, as the feeds of the Ferns, which
I re infinitely {mailer, are known to vegetate, and fo are thofe of the Mofles, which are yet fmaller ; for, what-
(ever fome Botanifts may aflertto the contrary, the fine powder contained in their capfuies, is as much feed as
Ithat contained in the capfuies of the Ferns.
I To afcertain the fa£t relative to the Typha, and to learn whether it encreafes in any confiderable degree from
[the feed, I propofe {licking round fome pond where it is not known to grow, feveral fpikes with the feeds juft
[beginning to blow off, and {hall relate the effects of this experiment under the Sparganium, or Burreed.
I The parts of fructification in this plant being very minute, are with difficulty inveftigated. Linnaeus, who
{examined and defcribed them without the affiftance of a magnifier, is therefore excufable, if he has not been fo
iininutely accurate in his defcription of them, as he is in moft others.
HThe Calyx which he defcribes does not appear to be the Calyx, but rather lome of the hairs proceeding from
Ithe receptacle, and which indeed appear more evidently to be fo, from the hairy appearance of the receptacle
[when the ftamina are dropt off; on one Filament are fupported one, two, three, or four Antherse, and tfyat indif-
jcriminately, fo that there does not appear to be any great propriety in placing.it in the order Triandria, it would
[be much lefs puzzling, and perhaps more agreeable to the {yftem, to place it in the order Polyandria, there be-
ling many {lamina, and all of them united to one receptacle.
The ufes to. which this plant are applied are but few.
The Roots are faid to, be eaten as a fallad. Haller. hiß. ex. auft. Gledit.
The downy foeds ferve for Huffing pillows. Haller, hiß.
Coopers ufe the leaves to fallen the hoops round their'calks. Lin. ex autt. Ruppii.
According to H a l l e r , cattle eat the leaves which are fufpedled to be poifonous by Schreber.
j It grows m ponds, ditches, and by the fides of rivers in many places about London, and flowers in July.
T y p h a MINOR. SMALLER C a TSTAIL.
TYPHA Limai Gen. PI. M ônoecia T r ia n d r ia .
Masc. Amentum cylindricum. Cal. obfoletus, 3
phyllus Cor. o. F em. Amentum cylindricum, infra
mafculos. Cal. capillo villofo. Cor. o. Sem. 1. infi-
dens pappo capillari.
Raii Syn. H erræ g r a m n iifo l iæ nonc u lm iferæ flore im per eec to seu s tam in eo .
TYPHA angujlifolia Foliis femicylindricis, Ipica mafcula femineaque remotis. Lin. Syjl. vegelab. p. 702.
S f . f l . 1377.
T YPHA clava mafcula a feminina remota. Haller, hijl. 1306.
TYPHA anguftifolia. Scopoli. Fl. Carniol. p. p. 214.
T YPHA paluftris minor. Baukin pin. p. 20.
T YPH A minor Parkinfont I2©4. Raii Syn. 436,
Hudfon. Fl. Angl. ed. à. p. 400.
THE Typha Minor is a much fcarcer plant about London than the Major, from which it differs {pecifi-
I c% in having much narrower leaves and flenderer {pikes, the male {pike being alfo diftant from the female about
Mninch; in the ftrudlure of its parts and its general ^economy it relembles the other.
I have obferved it growing near Baterfea, where it is now deftroyed; alfo on the middle of Woolwich Common,
[ where the Botanift may probably find it a hundred years hence. It flowers at the fame time as the Major.