[n] Plantæ nonnullæ Æschynomenæ Veteribus dictæ, Recentioribus Vivæ, & Sensitivæ, & Mimosæ, haud obscura sensus indicia produnt; siquidem folia earnum manu aut baculo tacta, & paululum compressa, pleno etiam meridie, splendente Sole, illico se contrahunt; in nonnullis etiam speciebus cauliculi teneriores concidunt & velut marcescunt; quod idem ab aëre frigidiore admissa patiuntur. Ray. Hist. Pl. T. 1. L. 18. App. S. 2. c. 2. p. 978.
[o] I have observed that many, if not most Vegetables, do expand their Flowers, Down, &c. in warm, Sun-shiny Weather, and again close them towards Evening, or in Rain, &c. especially at the Beginning of Flowering, when the Seed is young and tender; as is manifest in the Down of Dandelion, and other Downs; and eminently in the Flowers of Pimpernel; the opening and shutting of which, are the Country-Man’s Weather-wiser; whereby Gerard saith, he foretelleth what Weather shall follow the next Day; for saith he, if the Flowers be close shut up, it betokeneth Rain and foul Weather; contrarywise, if they be spread abroad, fair Weather. Ger. Herb. B. 2. c. 183.
Est & alia [arbor in Tylis] similis, foliosior tamen, roseique floris; quem noctu comprimens, aperire incipit Solis exortu, meridie expandit. Incolæ dormiræ eam dicunt. Plin. Nat. Hist. L. 12. c. 11.
[p] So soon as the Seed is ripe, Nature taketh several Methods for its being duly Sown; not only in the opening of the Uterus, but also in the make of the Seed it self. For, First, The Seeds of many Plants, which affect a peculiar Soil or Seat, as of Arum, Poppy, &c. are heavy and small enough, without further Care, to fall directly down into the Ground——But if they are so large and light, as to be expos’d to the Wind, they are often furnish’d with one or more Hooks, to stay them from straying too far from their proper Place——So the Seeds of Avens have one single Hook; those of Agrimony and Goose-grass, many; both the former loving a warm Bank; the latter, an Hedge for its Support. On the contrary, many Seeds are furnish’d with Wings or Feathers; partly with the Help of the Wind to carry them, when ripe, from off the Plant, as of Ash, &c.——and partly to enable them to make their Flight more or less abroad, that so they may not, by falling together, come up too thick; and that if one should miss a good Soil or Bed, another may hit. So the Kernels of Pine have Wings——yet short——whereby they fly not into the Air, but only flutter upon the Ground. But those of Typha, Dandelion, and most of the pappous Kind——have long numerous Feathers, by which they are wafted every Way.——Again, there are Seeds which are scatter’d not by flying abroad, but by being either spirted or flung away. The first of those are Wood sorrel, which having a running Root, Nature sees fit to sow the Seeds at some Distance. The doing of which is effected by a white sturdy Cover, of a tendinous or springy Nature.——This Cover, so soon as it begins to dry, bursts open on one Side, in an instant, and is violently turn’d Inside outward——and so smartly throws off the Seed. The Seeds of Hart’s-tongue, is flung or shot away——by the curious Contrivance of the Seed-case, as in Codded-Asmart, only there the spring moves and curls inward, but here outward, viz. Every Seed-case——is of a spherick Figure, and girded about with a Sturdy Spring.——The Surface of the Spring resembles a fine Screw.——So soon as——this Spring is become stark enough, it suddenly breaks the Case into two Halfs, like two little Cups, and so flings the Seed. Grew. ib. p. 199. and in Tab. 72. all these admirable Artifices are handsomely represented.
Quin si quantitas modica seminum (Filicis Phyiltitidis quoque) à foliis in subjectam charte mundæ——schedam decutiatur, detergatúrve, & deinde in acervum converratur, vesicularum seminalium plurimis unà dissilientibus, & sibi invicem allisis, acervulus variè moveri per partes videbitur, non secus ac si Syronibus aut istiusmodi bestiolis repletus esset——quin si locus tranquillus sit, aura proximè admotâ crepitantium inter rumpendum vasculorum sonitus——percipietur; & si microscopio chartam oculis oberres, semina per eam undique sparsa, & ad notabilem ab acervo distantiam projecta comperies. Ray ibid. p. 132.
The admirable Contrivance of Nature, in this Plant is most plain. For the Seed-Vessels being the best Preserver of the Seed, ’tis there kept from the Injuries of Air and Earth, ’till it be rainy, when it is a proper Time for it to grow, and then it is thrown round the Earth, as Grain by a skilful Sower.——When any Wet touches the End of the Seed Vessels, with a smart Noise and sudden Leap it opens it self, and with a Spring scatters its Seed to a pretty Distance round it, where it grows. Dr. Sloane Voy. to Jamaica, p. 150. of the Gentianella flore cœruleo, &c. or Spirit-Leaf.
The Plants of the Cardamine-Family, and many others, may be added here, whose Cods fly open, and dart out their Seed, upon a small Touch of the Hand. But the most remarkable Instance is in the Cardamine impatiens, cujus Siliquæ (saith Mr. Ray) vel leviter tactæ, actutùm ejaculantur [Semina] imò, quod longè mirabilius videtur, etsi filiquas non tetigeris, si tamen manum velut tacturus proximè admoveas, semina in approprinquantem evibrabunt; quod tum Morisonus se sæpiùs expertum scribit, tum Johnstonus apud Gerardum verum esse affirmat. Hist. Plant. L. 16. c. 20.
Neither is this Provision made only for Land Vegetables, but for such also as grow in the Sea. Of which I shall give an Instance from my before commended Friend Dr. Sloane. As to the Fuci,——their Seed hath been discover’d, (and shew’d me first,) by the Industry of the ingenious Herbarist, Mr. Sam. Doody, who found on many of this Kind, solid Tubercules, or Risings in some Seasons, wherein were lodg’d several round Seeds, as big as Mustard-Seed, which, when ripe, the outward Membrane of the Tubercule breaking, leaveth the seed to float up and down with the Waves. The Seed coming near Stones, or any solid Foundation, by Means of a Mucilage it carries with it, sticks to them, and shoots forth Ligulæ with Branches, and in Time comes to its Perfection and Magnitude. Sloan Voy. Jamaica, p. 50.
But although Mr. Doody had hinted, and conjectur’d at the Thing; yet the first that discover’d the Seeds in Fuci, was the before commended Dr. Tancred Robinson; as may be seen by comparing what Mr. Ray saith in his Synops. Stirp. Brit. p. 6. with his Append. Hist. p. 1849. Besides which Fuci, the Dr. tells me, he observ’d Vessels and Seed in Coralloid Shrubs, as also in several Fungi, not only in the Species of Crepitus Lupi, but also between the Lamellæ of other Species, and in that subterraneous Kind call’d Truffles, whose Seed and Vessels open in the Cortex, at some Seasons he saith, like that of Mallows in Shape.
As to the Crepitus Lupi, I have more than once examin’d their Powder, with those excellent Microscopes of Mr. Wilson’s Make: But the most satisfactory View Mr. Wilson himself gave me; by which I found the Seeds to be so many exceeding small Puff-Balls, with round Heads, and longer than ordinary sharp-pointed Stalks, as if made on purpose to prick easily into the Ground. These Seeds are intermix’d with much dusty Matter, and become hurtful to the Eyes, probably by their sharp Stalks pricking and wounding that tender Organ.