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THE

713^1

GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

“ The hand that pvea the ar.gcis wings,

And plants the forest by its power,

O'er mountain, rale, and champaign flings
The seed of every herb and flower :

Nor forests stand, nor angels fly.

More at God’s will, more in his eye.

Than the green blade strikes down its root.
Expands its bloom, and yields its fruit."

MojTTGOintET.

LONDON:

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY;

Irutituted 1799.

WhLLCUME INSTITUTE

LIBRARY

Co!!.

wsljMOmec

Ca!!

No.

-

PREFACE.

The object or the following pages is to give
a brief and popular view of that branch of
botany and physical geography, which is com-
monly termed the Geography of Plants ; a
study which is yet in its infancy, but respect-
ing which enough is known, both as to facts
and laws, to render it one of no common
interest. The more enumeration of botanical
names has been carefully avoided, especially
in describing the floral features of foreign
countries, where the mention of such plants
as are generally unknown here Avould have
been unintelligible without figures, or descrip-
tions of a length precluded by the limits of the
work. Such plants only, therefore, have been

IV

PKEKACE.

selected in illustration, as would be generally
known, or could be readily described.

Much assistance has been derived in the
preparation of these pages from the works of
of hi, Meyen, Dr. Lindley, hlrs. Somerville,
and Dr. Carpenter ; and to the works of the
first of these authors and of baron Humboldt,
the reader who desires further information
is directed, Mr. H. C. Watson’s “ Cybele
Brittanica” will also afford much instruction
in regard to the geographical distribution of
British plants.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Page

Introduction — General view of the numbers and distri-
bution of plants — liotaivical districts — Centres of
creation — Influence of soil and situation — Marine
plants — Sargnssiini — Red Sea — Minute algse — Fresh-
water plants— Lotus— Vallisneria — Spring and fountain
plants— Oases— Maritime plants — liarilla— Mangrove —
Stepi)es — Sand plants — Chalk plants — Bog plants —
Mountain plants — Cultivated ground plants — Field
and wood plants — Parasites and epiphytes — Orchis
tribe 7

CHAPTER II.

Ini lienee of climate — Light and heat — Chemical actions
—Zones — Isothermal lines — Summer temperature —
Eipiinoctial zone— Baobab — Age of trees— Bombax —
Mahoganv — Orchis — Climbers — Rafllesia — Tropical
forests— Cacao-nut — Woorali poison— Cassava — Palms
— Cocoa-nut — Sago palm— Arborescent grasses— Bam-
boo—Sugar-cane— Slavery — Scitaminea;— Gutta percha
— Camphor — Spice Islands — Nutmeg — Clove — Cin-
namon— Pepper— Nettles — Upas— Java — The forbidden
fruit 37

CHAI'TER III.

The tropical zone— Tree ferns— Iiiomaai— Passion flower
— Victoria — Potato — Arrow-root — Dumb-cane— Man-
chinecl— Hura— Sandwich Islands — Pandanus — Pine
apple— Banana— Taro— China— The sub-tropical zone —
Succulent plants — Euphorbias— Fig tribe — India-rubber
— Banian— Hraca;na—r)esert— Papyrus— Egypt— Gourd
tribe — Acacia — Balm of Gilead —Tamarisk — Henna —
Coffee— The Land of Promise— Date palm— Lily— Cedar
—Olive — Pomegranate — Carob — Myrtle— India— Teak

VI

CONTENTS.

Page

tree— Castor oil — Lemon grass — Spikenard— Cotton —
Himalayas— China — Tea— Rice —Australia— Acacias—
Eucalyptus— Epacris— Grass tree— South Africa — Pro-
teas—Heaths— Geraniums — Mimosa — Aloe — Cycas —
House-leek tribe — Deserts— North America— Tobacco
—Mexico— Agave — Furcrsea— South America— Cactus . 75

CHAPTER IV.

Vanner temperate zone — Orange — Vine — Varieties—

Asia Minor— Benefits of commerce — Rose — Thibet —
Prangos —United States — Maize — Chili — Araucaria —
Primeval forests— New Zealand— Van Diemen’s Land
—The colder temperate zone — Oak — Corn — Compari-
son of this zone in the northern and southern hemi-
spheres—Sub-arctic zone — Pine and Fir— Arctic zone —
Polar zone 14S

CHAPTER V.

Influence of altitude — Remons — Divine wistlom and bc-
nevolence— Poisonous j)lants— The resurrection . .179

THE

GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction— General view of the numbers and distribution
of plants— Botanical districts— Centres of creation— In-
fluence of soil and situation— Marine plants— Sargassum —
Retl Sea— Minute algse— Fresh-water plants— Lotus— Val-
lisneria— Spring and fountain plants— Oases— Maritime
plants— Barilla— Mangrove — Steppes— Sand plants— Chalk
plants — Bog plants — Mountain plants— Cultivated ground
plants— Field and wood plants— Parasites and epiphytes—
Orchis tribe.

Amidst all the varied forms of beauty, and the
marvellous displays of wisdom, with which a
bountiful Creator has adorned our earth, the
vast vegetable kingdom holds a prominent
place. And surely none can survey the amaz-
ing variety and loveliness of the plants and
trees which clothe this earth, and reflect on
their immense importance, as furnishing food,
clothing, medicine, and luxuries to man, and
not be led at once to the acknowledgment that
“ the hand of the Lord hath wrought this." It
•is, however, but too true, that many attempt

8

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

to trace the origin of plants to what is called
“ spontaneous or equivocal generation ; ” but,
in spite of the vain effort to disavow and get
rid of the idea of an all-Avise and supremo
Creator, there are multitudes of facts directly
opposed to such views, which clearly exhibit the
wonderful provision God has made in the vege-
table creation for the wants, comforts, and
enjoyments of our race, in so vast a variety of
ways, that the Christian naturalist delights
to trace the works of his heavenly Father’s
hand, to see his mercy and his goodness thus
displayed to all his intelligent creatures, and to
praise him for his goodness to the children of
men.

It is not our purpose to enter into the general
subject of botany, but to take up one of the
branches of the science, which affords large
scope for very interesting inquiries. The
science may be considered as consisting of
three principal sub-divisions or branches.

I. Physiological Botany. — This comprises
investigations into the structure and organs of
plants, (V egetable Anatomy,) and their functions
and uses, (Vegetable Physiology.) It forms a
very interesting and instructive study.

II. Systematic Botany ; or. Classification.

- — The number of plants hitherto discovered on
the surface of the globe is so immense, that
without some kind of classification or arrange-
ment, they would present an inextricable mass
of confusion. Various methods haA'e been pro-
posed, two only of which have stood the test of

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS.

9

time, the Linna?an and the Jusslisan, some-
times, though unfairly, termed the artificial
and the natural methods ; both are useful, the
former having been aptly designated as “ the
grammar,” the latter as “ the literature ” of the
science, and both should be studied.

III. Geogr.aphical Botany. — This, which
will form the subject of our remarks, is the
investigation into those laws which regulate the
distribution of plants over the face of our
globe ; which assign a certain set of plants
to one country, and a different series to
another ; or, which allow of one plant being
so widely distributed over the various coun-
tries of our globe as almost to be called
universal, while others are restricted to the
narrowest limits.

It is estimated that the number of distinct
species of plants, already known and described,
is 92,930. This includes all the flowering
plants, trees, and shrubs, ferns, mosses, lichens,
sea and river weeds, (^Ahjce,) mushrooms and
their allies, (Fimgi,') in fact, every vegetable
production. These are very variously distri-
buted over our globe ; light, heat, altitude,
soil, situation, all contributing their influence
in modifying the diffusion of species, and of
these the first two are by far the most impor-
tant. Near the equator, where light and heat
are most intense, vegetation is most luxuriant
and profuse ; while at the poles, or at those
high elevations which reach above the line of
perpetual snow, or in the profounder recesses

A 2

10

THE GEOGP.APirr OP PLANTS.

of the ocean, vegetable life seems to become
entirely extinct, and not a plant even of the
simplest form appears. Between these extreme
limits, hoAvevQT, every gradation is seen, ac-
cording to the increase of latitude or height.
The species which inhabit each particular dis-
trict of our globe are just those best suited to
the physical condition of each, and to the
requirements of its inhabitants, whether of the
human species or of the brute creation. Thus,
the water-melon, the banana, the bread-fruit,
and the rice-plant, are peculiar to tropical regions ;
while the vine, wheat, barley, and the common
corn-plants, will not succeed in so high a tem-
perature, but require a cooler climate. Many
facts, which we shall have to notice, will
exhibit to us the goodness of God in so
arranging the vegetable productions of our
globe, that not only (to a great extent) are the
food-plants of the various countries exactly
such as are best adapted to the wants of the
inhabitants, but also that a vast variety of the
niorc useful plants are so distributed as to
induce commercial intercourse ; and thus,
while they render nations mutually dependent
on one another for many of the comforts and
conveniences of life, they are an indirect means
of promoting the advancement of civilization,
and, above all, of the spread of the gospel. Why,
how'ever, a certain species should only be able
to flourish in a certain soil, and under a certain
amount of heat and moisture, is a problem we
cannot as yet solve ; it doubtless depends on

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS.

11

special peculiarities in the internal structure ;
but in what those peculiarities consist, we are
ignorant.

Some plants, too, are very widely distributed.
The daisy, for example, is spread throughout
Europe almost universally, in Australia, in
Northern Asia, in some parts of Africa, and in
.South America. In India and North America,
however, it is entirely absent, and can only be
preserved as a choice exotic, tended with the
most zealous care in botanic gardens. The
cereals, that is, wheat, barley, oats, rye, etc.,
are endowed mth a very great power of adap-
tation. Though their native country is scarcely
known, and they are rarely found wild, yet
they possess a power of enduring such a variety
of temperature, that they have been introduced
by cultivation over a large portion of our globe.
They can withstand the cold of 62° n. lat.,
and though they will not in general bear the
heat of the tropics, yet even in such places
they are sometimes cultivated during the
winter season. The potato, again, though only
known wild as a native of the Avestern coast of
South America, is now cultivated almost uni-
versally, particularly in Europe and North
America, and has become one of the most im-
portant articles of food, especially among the
poor.

On the other hand, many species (and pro-
bably the great majority of plants) are very
limited in their abodes. The Cactus tribe, so
generally cultivated in our green-houses, and so

12 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

remarkable for the singularity of their growth,
the absence of leaves, and the splendour of their
flowers, contains 800 species, all of which are
peculiar to America, and not a single species
is a native of Europe, Asia, or Africa. 533
species of the beautiful genus Erica, or heath,
are found at or near the Cape of Good Hope,
and nowhere else in the w'orld. I\Iost of the
species of Epacj'is, (a heath-like plant with
beautiful flowers,) and many species of Protea,
Mimosa, Eucalyptus, Banksia, and several
others, which ornament our green-houses
and hot-houses, and whose singular foliage and
beautiful flowers caused captain Cook to give
the name of Botany Bay to the well-known
place which still bears it, are peculiar to
Australia. The species of Cinchoiia, too,
which yield the Peruvian bark, grow only on
the eastern declivity of the Andes, as far as
18° s. lat. ; and the cedar of Lebanon is indi-
genous to that mountain alone. It would be
easy to multiply instances, but this is needless.

These facts will enable us readily to under-
stand, that there are numerous botanical dis-
tricts on the surface of our globe, each of which
has its own vegetation, a considerable number,
perhaps the majority of the species, being
peculiar to the particular district, while others
are found in common with other localities.
Very often these districts contain whole families
of plants found nowhere else j and even of
genera which inhabit other countries, the
species are different ; perliaos, in, similar cir-

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS.

18

ciimstances, representative, but not identical.
Thus, the Flora of the United States of North
America is totally different from that of Europe,
even in places where the annual temperature is
the same. Of 2,891 species of flowering plants
found in the United States, only 385 are com-
mon to them and the corresponding latitudes of
Europe. In St. Helena, of thirty flowering plants,
only one or two are native elsewhere. In the
Galapagos islands, out of 180 plants which have
been collected, 100 are found nowhere else ;
and of twenty-one species of composite plants, all
but one are peculiar to that group. Some few
species make the most remarkable leaps, being
common to countries at a great distance from
each other, while absent, or nearly so, from the
intervening ones. Thus, in the Falkland Islands,
more than thirty plants, natives of Britain, are
found wild. The common quaking-grass {Briza
media) has been found in the interior of the
country at the Cape of Good Hope ; and almost
all the lichens brought from the southern
hemisphere by sir James Eoss, amounting to
200 species, are found in the northern hemi-
sphere, and chiefly in Europe. Several of our
commonest plants, as the bull-rush, (Typhaan-
gmtifoUa) the reed, {Amndo jAiragynites,) the
marsh-mallow, {Althcea officinalis) the bird’s-
foot trefoil, {Lotus comiculatus) the knot-grass,
{Polygonum aviculare) with several others, are
found again in Australia. For this various
distribution of plants it is difficult to account.
A recent theory, which has been ably advocated

14

TUE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

by professor E. Forbes, supposes that plants
were originally created in certain spots, (called
“ centres of creation,”) each containing its
peculiar group of species, and that from these
spots they have become gradually diffused ; the
extent of such diffusion depending partly on
the peculiar adaptation of the plants them-
selves, and also being in many cases very much
modified by geological changes. We are not,
however, prepared to subscribe to this theory,
however ingenious ; a much lai'ger array of
facts must be produced in its support before
it can claim to be regarded as a truth. We
should rather be inclined to say, with one of
our poets,

“ Jehovah spake—

And Eai'th, an infant, naked as she came
Out of the womb of Chaos, straight put on
Her beautiful attire, and deck’d her robe
Of verdure with ten thousand glorious flowers.

Exhaling incense j crown’d her mountain-heads
AVith cedars, train’d her vines around their girdles,

And pom'’d spontaneous harvests at their feet.”

In entering somewhat more at large into this
subject, we will consider separately the influence
of situation, climate, and attitude. First, then,
as to Situation and Soil. — These materially
influence the distribution of plants. Some
require a moist soil — others a dry one : some a
high elevation — others are found only in the
plains : some in the clefts of rocks — others in the
richest pastures — others only in sandy wastes :
some grow immersed in the ocean — others are
on dry walls and roofs. The southern slope of a
hill is generally clothed with different plants to

MARINE PLANTS.

15

those on its northern side ; a chalk district pre-
sents an array of vegetation greatly dilFering from
that of a clayey soil ; 'which, again, as wddely
differs from pastures in the immediate neigh-
boiu’hood of the sea. Vines cannot flourish in
a soil which does not supply them with potash ;
neither can peas, beans, nor plants used as dyes,
reach perfection without the same ingredient.
The corn plants require a soil containing both
potash and the earthy phosphates ; nor can any
of the grasses flourish without silica, which
gives its hal’d coating to straw, and to so
great an extent is it absorbed by them, that
hard masses of vitrified silicious matter have
been found where a wheat or hay-stack has
been destroyed by fire ; and the hollow tubes of
the bamboo often contain solid flinty lumps,
called in India “ Tabaslieer." Plants of the
cruciform order (as mustard, turnips, etc.) con-
tain sulphur, and require it in a soil in which
they can flourish. In fact, most plants have
their peculiarities in tliis respect, and often
there is a marked difference in the trees grow-
ing on the same mountain, depending on the
nature of the rock beneath.

Let us now take a glance at th^ various
habitats, (as they are termed by botanists,) and
the chief plants which occupy them.

Marine plants are those which are found in
sea-water, and therefore in every ocean. It is
not to be supposed that plants grow indif-
ferently at any depth in the sea ; it is probable
tliat they will not exist at a greater depth than

16

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

a few hundred feet. The depth of the ocean
varies very greatly, and animals and plants are
alike absent from its deeper parts. The plants
included under the name of marine plants are
the immense family of Alg(je, or sea-weeds, and
the single genus of flowering plants, termed
zostera, or grass wrack, of which we have two
native species existing in our British seas, one
of which is extremely abundant. Most of the
marine plants are rooted on the bottom of the
sea, or on rocks, or even on other sea-weeds,
chiefly in shallow water, and must, therefore,
derive all their nourishment from the sea-water
and the air it contains. There are exceptions
to this, such as in the sea-weed now called Sar-
gassum vulgare. This very remarkable plant
forms beds of vast extent over a space in the
Atlantic Ocean, which is called the Sargasso
Sea, (il/ar de Zargasso of the Portuguese,) and
which extends from 22° to 36° N. lat., and
from 25° to 45° w. long., an area equal to
40,000 sejuare miles, or the whole of France.
So vast are some of these beds of sea-weed, that
Columbus, who met with them in his first
voyage Avestward, in Avhich he discovered the
western hemisphere, compared them to floating
meadoAvs. Their occurrence induced him to
expect the vicinity of land long before the
realization of his hopes and predictions, and
enabled him for some time to repress the mu-
tinous disposition of his wearied and dispirited
seamen. It is singular that this sea-Aveed has
never been found with either root or fruit, and

MARINE PLANTS.

17

in small specimens it is easily seen that they
have grown in all directions from a central
point, which never has been fixed.

A sea-weed, common in the North Sea,
{Chorda Jiliim,) is frequently found of the
length of thirty or forty feet. In Scalpa Bay,
in Orkney, this plant forms meadows, through
which a pinnace can with difficidty force its
way. On the western coasts of the British
Channel, there are permanent bands or masses
of this sea-weed, lying in the direction of the
currents, not more than six hundred feet wide,
but fifteen or twenty miles in length. Another
species {Lessonia fuscesceiis) is, we are in-
formed, twenty-five or thirty feet long, with a
trunk as thick as a man’s thigh, and with numer-
ous branches, from which long leaves droop into
the water like willows. There are immense
submarine forests off Patagonia and Terra del
Fuego, atbiched to the rocks at the bottom.
These plants are so strong and buoyant that
they bring up large masses of stone ; and as
they grow slanting, and stretch along the
surface of the sea, they are sometimes three
hundred feet long. The quantity of living
creatures which inhabit these submarine forests,
and the parasitical weeds attached to them, is
inconceivable — they absolutely teem with life.
But for gigantic size, the prodigious ponds of a
species (Macrocystis pyrifera) found about Cape
Horn, and in the Straits of INIagellan and Le
Maine, exceed all others. Specimens have
been measured which exceed three hundred

18 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

feet in length, and it is said to grow even to the
length of fifteen hundred feet. Its leaves are
long and narrow, and at the base of each is
placed a vesicle filled with air, which assists to
support its enormous length in the water. It
exists in detached masses, like green meadows,
in every latitude, from the South Polar Ocean
to the 45th degree of N. lat. in the Atlantic,
and to the shores of California in the Pacific,
where there are fields of it so impenetrable, that
it has saved vessels, di-iven by the heavy swell
towards the shore, from shipwreck. It is never
seen where the temperature of the water is at
the freezing point. This, with another species,
{Laminai'ia radiata,) also of gigantic size and
extensive range, forms part of a band of sea-
weed that girds Kerguelen’s Island so'densely that
a boat can scarcely be pulled through it. They
are found, too, in great abundance on the coasts
of the Falkland Islands, and also in vast fields in
the open sea, hundreds of miles from any land.

The colour of the Eed Sea is said to be
owing to its sea-weeds. Dupont gives the
following statement : “ On the 8tli of July,
1843, 1 entered the Ked Sea by the Straits of
Babelmandel, on board the ‘ Atalanta’ steamer.
On the 15th, the burning sun of Arabia awoke
me by its brilliancy, unannounced by the da^vn.
I was leaning mechanically out of the poop
windows, to catch a little of the fresh air of
* night before the sun had devoured it, when,
imagine my surprise to find the sea stained red
as far as the eye could reach behind the vesseh

MARINE PLANTS.

19

If I were to attempt to describe this pheno-
menon, I would say that the surface of the ocean
was entirely covered with a thin, close layer of
fine matter, the colour of brick-dust, but
slightly orange. IMidiogany saw-dust would
produce such an appearance. When put into
a white glass bottle, it became in the course of
a day deep violet, while the water itself had
become a beautiful rose-colour. This appear-
ance lasted for about a day and a hall’, after
which the sea became blue as before. During
this time we must have passed through about
two hundred and fifty- six miles of the red
plant.” Off Bahia, on the coast of Brazil,
bands, several miles long, occur, of a species
like chopped hay. But some of the minute
sea-weeds are the most marvellous. In the
Antarctic Ocean vast midtitudes of one of the
Diatomaceo} occur, so minute as to be invisible
to the naked eye, and yet swarming in such
countless myriads as to give the sea a pale
ochreous brown colour.

The thought of such numbers confounds th'e
mind. On their first discovery they were
thought to be animalcules of the silicious
shelled kind, but they are now ascertained to
be vegetables. They augment in quantity as
the latitiude increases, up to the highest point
attained by man ; and from the 1 65th to the 160th
degree of west longitude, between tiie V6th and
78th parallels of south latitude, the hard remains
of this vegetable are forming a submarine bank,
from two to three hundred miles long, and of great

20

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

breadth — a marvellous instance of great ends
from small means. It forms one among many
instances of that omnipotent Power, which can,
out of (apparently) the most insignificant things,
produce vast results ; and reminds us that in
providence and grace, as well as in nature, vast
results often proceed from seemingly trivial
causes. What an idea, too, does so amazing an
amount of being convey of eternity ! The mind
is utterly overwhelmed in attempting to con-
ceive of the number of plants buried in even a
small portion of such a mass, and yet, vast as
such myriads are, they are nothing to the ages
of eternity ! We have thus mentioned some of
the most remarkable marine plants, but few
persons can have walked on any of our shores,
and not had their attention attracted by the ex-
treme beauty of many of our native sea-weeds,
of every shade and hue, from the delicate green
of many of the confei'vce, to the brilliant red and
jmrple of others.

Fresh-watet plants are such as grow in fresh-
water only. These are of vastly more varied forms
than the marine species. The large order of algce,
which we just remarked abounds in the sea, has
its representatives also in fresh-water ; these
principally belong to the confervce, a section oi
the algce with which, by name, perhaps, but few
are acquainted, though the plants themselves
are familiar to most. Who is there that has
not observed, in a stagnant ditch or pond, masses
of green matter, frequently in the form of very
fine hair, or covering the surface of the Avater

FRESn-WATER PLANTS.

21

with a greenish slime ? If now a minute por-
tion of this matter be taken on a slip of glass,
spread out with a drop of clear water, and then
placed beneath a good microscope, it will be
found to be composed of an assemblage of
plants, often exceedingly elegant and beautiful
in their structure. The number of species of
confervce and the allied genera is very great,
probably not less than six hundred. Their
propagation is often exceedingly rapid, perfect
plants being often entirely reproduced in from
twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Ponds, which
have been entirely cleared of confervce one day,
have become quite covered by them the next.

In tropical countries, the confervce are very
rare, though not altogether absent. The duck-
weed (Lemna) is an extremely common and
well-known fresh-water plant ; four species of
it inhabit England, two of which have also been
found in America and Australia. It is general
throughout temperate climates. In tropical
countries, the duck-weeds cease, and are re-
placed by a larger plant, with flowers and
leaves, {^Pistia stratiotes,) which covers many of
the tropical lakes in incredible quantities.
AVhen there have been storms on the Laguna
de Bay, the great lake in the island Lucon,
these plants are thrown on the coasts, and not
only cover the edges of the water, but form
heaps several feet high on the shore, and spread
a dreadful stench while decaying. The same
plant grows abundantly in the water-tanks in
Jamaica, and is said, by the acrid properties

22 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

it communicates in hot, dry weather, to give
rise to dysentery among those who make
use of the water. Among fresh-water plants,
we should hardly forget to notice the pretty
yellow water-lily, (^Nnphar liitea,) and its still
more beautiful relative, the white water-lily,
{Nymphfea alba,) whose lovely pure white
blossoms and handsome floating leaves delight
the eye of many an observer. A tropical spe-
cies, {Nelumhhim spieciosum,) formerly common
in Egypt, but noAv said to be extinct there,
though still abounding in the placid waters
of India and Thibet, where it is held sacred, is
remarkable for the beaiity of its fragrant rose-
coloured floAvers, Avhich somewhat resemble
those of the Avater-lily, but rise out of the
water, while the circular leaves, often two feet
broad, float on the surface. It is found also in
one spot near Astrakhan, but noAvhere else in the
vast empire of Kussia. This flower is believed
to be the “ lotus" of the ancient Egyptians, and
is often represented on the monuments both of
that country and India.

An interesting British aquatic, (Sfratiotes
aloides,) commonly called Avater-soldier, from its
sword-like leaves, remains beneath the Avater
during the greater part of the year, but at its
time of floAvering raises itself to the surface, by
means of Avhich the fructifying pollen is scat-
tered upon the stigmata. After floAvering, the
plant sinks again. A still more curious means
of effecting the same object is found in the
VaUisneria, a foreign plant, Avhich grows in

SPRING AND FOUNTAIN PLANTS.

23

rivers and rapid streams, the Rhine for exam-
ple. In this plant, the stamens and pistils grow in
different flowers, though on the same plant. The
pistil-bearing dowers are themselves lighter than
water, and are placed at the end of a long spiral
stalk, so that while in dower the stalk contracts
or extends much in the manner of a bell-spring,
that it may always keep the dower on the
surface of the water. No such provision is made
foV the stamen-bearing flowers, which remain
submerged up to the time of the pollen being
matured ; as soon as this is the case, the dowers
become detached, and rise to the surface, where
they scatter their pollen as they doat along, and
thus the pistilliferous dowers become fertilized.
Many of our most beautiful wild dowers in
England are among the fresh-water plants.
We must just stay to name the water violet,
{Ilottonia palnstns,) the dowering rush, (Buto-
Pius umbellatvs,) the frog-bit, (Hydrocharis
morsus ranee,) the water speedwell, ( Veronica
anagallis,) the arrow-head, {Sagittaria sagitti-
folia,) and the white water crowfoot, {Bamm-
Ciiliis aqucctilis, and B. circinatiis.)

Spring and fountain plants may be distin-
guished from the last as growing in the clear,
fresh -water of springs, or close to them. The
little water chickweed, {Montia fontana,) and
the brooklime speedwell, ( Veronica beccahinga,)
are examples of this kind of plants, which are,
or may be, familiar to every one. Even hot
springs are not destitute of vegetation. In
Iceland, many plants grow close to the hot

24 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

springs ; some not far from the edge of the
Great Geyser, where every other plant is petri-
fied ; and species of confervce flourish in a
spring, said to be almost hot enough to boil an
egg. The influence of springs on the surround-
ing vegetation is also great, especially in the
tropics. In deserts, the smallest spring forms
in those climates an oasis, in which grasses,
juicy cyperi, and bushes grow, and even here
and there a palm rises. In the barren, sandy,
and parched-up deserts of the south of Peru,
between the Cordilleras and the coast, a spring,
however small, Avhich rises often at wide in-
tervals, is the cause of a little settlement.
“ Often it supports only a field of lucerne, a
little maize field, and a lew olive trees ; and yet,
for the sake of this scanty produce, the great
roads must pass by such places, that the beasts
of burden may get the refreshment necessary
for them. Nothing can equal the dreariness
and death-like stillness in such regions of south
Peru. Sometimes, for twenty or thirty miles,
not a bird, not an insect, nor a plant is seen ;
but the smallest spring calls from this dead,
dusty soil, a green oasis ; and when rich mines
are near, is the source of great wealth, which
could not be obtained without it.”

Maritime plants are such as choose especially
for their localities places within the influence of
sea-air, or actually on the sea-coast. A beau-
tiful little plant, with deep green leaves, and
pretty little pink flowers, the saltwort, {Glmix
viaritima,) abounds in damp, turfy spots, near

MARITIME PLANTS.

25

the shores of our own country ; and in simil.Tr
spots the handsome purple sea-lavender is to be
seen in abundance. On the coasts of the
Mediterranean, two fleshy-leaved plants, with
inconspicuous flowers, {Salsola kali, and Sal-
sola soda,) are found in great abundance, and
are burned in large quantities for the sake of
their ashes, which contain much soda. These,
when packed in barrels, are imported into this
country under the name of Barilla, which was
formerly used extensively in various manufac-
tures, especially that of soap, and is still to
some extent, though mostly superseded by the
use of soda manufactured from common salt.

On the sea-coasts of tropical climates, where
the shores consist of mould, partly firm and
partly marshy, and which are accessible to the
tide, and often covered by it, vast forests occur,
which frequently extend for miles along the coast.
In the West Indies, South America, and the
west coast of Africa, these consist of the man-
grove, {Bhizophora mangle.) This is a very
curious tree, seldom exceeding forty or fifty feet
in height, and is green through the year.
Unlike most other trees, its roots are not all
under ground, but the lower portion of the
stem divides into roots at a considerable height
above the soil, and these again subdivide, so as
to form a complete vault of roots, from the
summit of which the trunk springs. The tree
is thus more firmly and extensively fixed in the
loose, swampy ground, in which it flourishes. It
differs from other plants also in another remark-

26 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

able piirticular. It is well knoAvn, that the seeds
of most plants do not germinate or commence
growing till placed in the ground, and warmth
and moisture induce the germ to sprout. But
the seeds of the mangrove germinate as they
hang upon the tree, and push forth a rootlet,
which gradually lengthens until it reaches the
marshy surface below ; or, if too high on the
tree for this, after pushing out to a considerable
length, it drops from the tree ; the thick pointed
root fixes itself in the mud, and leaves imme-
diately spring from the opposite extremity.
In this way, so dense a forest is formed, in a
few years comparatively, from a single trunk,
that the foliage entirely intercepts the rays of
the sun, and, preventing the exhalation of the
foul vapours that arise from the marshy surface
beneath, becomes one of the most unhealthy
places in a tropical climate ; indeed, so pesti-
lential are many of the forests, as to render it
almost certain death to botanize among this
luxuriance of nature. The network of roots of
such a spot intercepts and collects all the solid
matters brought down by the rivers at the
mouth of which these are often found, not only
on the marsh, but often groAving so far into the
Avater that their trunks are covered Avith shell-
fish. I'hey not only thus extend along the
coast, but actually in many instances form neAv
ground for themselves, and as a large part of
this consists of decomposing vegetable matter
under the heat of a tropical sun, pestilential
vapours are continually arising, rendering it

SAND PLANTS.

27

peculiarly dangerous to human beings. The
surface of the ground of a mangrove swamp is
so soft as to render it unsafe for human feet ;
nevertheless, the savage natives pass over it, leap-
ing from root to root for miles, without once
daring to trust their weight upon the treacherous
soil beneath.

In Asia, a maritime soil prevails very exten-
sively, and forms some of those vast plains
called steppes, a large extent of which is strongly
impregnated with salt, and liere only maritime
and saline plants will flourish. Tliese steppes
extend over a space of about a million square
miles, exclusive of the extensive frozen marshes
of the north of Siberia, and extend from the Sea
of Azov and the Ural IMountains on the west, to
the little Altai Mountains and the Lena on the
east. The vegetation upon them consists of
comparatively few species, and those are stunted ;
among the most conspicuous are the sea laven-
der, {Statice tatarica,) a species of salt-wort,
(Salsola prostrata,) some species of liqxxorice,
(Glycyri'hiza hirsuta, and G. Icevis,) the latter
the liquorice-root of oxir shops, with some
others. On our own shores, the erjmgo,
{Eryngitim maritimum,) with its beaxxtiful blue
heads of flowers and bluish-xvhite foliage, forms
a striking object.

Sand plants are those which thrive, alone or
nearly so, in silicious sand. They are of a
pecxiliar character in all parts of the world, and
the greater number are probably grasses and
their allies. Three of these plants especially, the

28

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

sand-reed, or marrams, (Ammopldia aremria,)
the sand-sedge, (^Carex are7iaria,) and the sea
lime-grass, (j£lymus ai'enai'im,) have been es-
pecially useful in restraining the encroachments
of the sea on sandy shores. This they do by
their long, creeping shoots and tough, tangled
roots, which, running among the sands in every
direction, so bind them together, that they offer
a resistance rarely overcome by the force of
storms, and are reneAved as fast as they are
destroyed. When these natural defences have
been uprooted by the thoughtlessness or igno-
rance of man, the most serious evils have arisen.
In Scotland, for example, large tracts of once
iertile country have been rendered barren by
the encroachment of sand-hills, Avhich have
given them the desert-like aspect of Egyptian
plains ; and this encroachment has resulted
fi'om the destruction of the mat-grasses, which
were pulled up by the country people for fuel
to such an extent, that an act of parliament Avas
passed, about one hundred years ago, rendering
it punishable to do so.

Chalk plants groAv on calcareous soils. Among
these may be enumerated many of our prettiest
AA’ild plants in England, as the yelloAv Avort,
{Chlot'a pei'foliata,) the squinancy Avort, or small
Avoodruff, {Asj)erula cyitancliica,) and most oi
our native species of the orchis tribe, Avhich
adorn many a chalky spot Avith their beautiful
floAvers. One considerable genus of plants
(^Gypsophild) is only found on rocks composed
of gypsum, or sulphate of lime.

TUKF, BOG, AND MARSH PLANTS.

29

Tuvf, hog, and marsh plants are found in
great variety in our own country, and they
abound in foreign lands. The sundew, (^Drosera,)
of which we have three native species, is a
common inhabitant of spongy bogs, and may
serve as an example. Its leaves, disposed in a
circle around the root, are of a beautiful reddish
colour, and are covered with numerous long
hairs, standing erect, and when the sun shines
bright and warm, each hair is tipped with a
transparent globule of viscid matter. Let any
poor lly or other insect alight upon one of these
leaves, and if not powerful enough immediately
to escape, it becomes entangled in the viscid
secretion, and then the hairs gradually bend
over it, and bind it down to die. In some of
the swamps of Carolina, in North America, is
found the Venus’s fly-trap, {^Dioniva muscipula,)
which presents a remarkable analogy to this
plant. Its leaves are furnished with a row of
teeth, or rather bristles, on each side, and so
irritable is the leaf, that if touched by any sub-
stance, or especially if an insect alights upon it,
the sides instantly collapse, the teeth lock one
into another, like the teeth of a rat-trap,
and cannot be separated again without force.
Another beautiful plant, which abounds on
moory ground, especially in the north of Eng-
land, is the cotton grass. The seeds of this
plant (which grow together in heads) are sur-
rounded as they ripen by a number of fine
hairs, of a pure white colour and beautiful
silky texture, so that, when ripe, the spike prc-

30 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

sents an elegant tuft of silvery hairs. Their
structure unfits them for weaving into anj'^
fabric, but in the northern counties of England
and Scotland they are much used by the poor
for stuffing pilloAvs.

Rock and gravel plants. These generally
grow on bare rocks or dry gravel ; the cactus
and stonecrop tribes, many of the ferns, lichens,
and mosses, are examples. In the gravel which
is formed by the action of mountain-torrents,
especially at lofty elevations, are found some
peculiar plants, such as Rammciihis glacialis,
which adorns heights otherwise barren, and
bordering on the regions of perpetual snow.
Here we may also mention mountain plants,
which, as their name implies, grow especially
on mountain ranges. Their number is very
great, though numbers of species which are
sometimes found on mountains cannot properly
be said to be moimtain plants, as will be seen
when we come to speak of the inffuence of
altitude. One example will suffice at present.
On the Himalayan mountains, at the height of
from five thousand to nine thousand feet above
the level of the sea, the vegetation assumes a
perfectly European aspect. Though situated in
a tropical country, the great elevation produces
such a diminution of temperature, that at that
height the climate resembles that of our own
country, and the plants are also very similar.
The dandelion, the ivy, our common meadow
grasses, {^Poa annuo, and Alopecurus genicu-

MS,) cleavers, (^Galium aparine,) and a number

WOOD, BUSir, AKD FOKEST PLANTS. 31

of Other common English plants, abound
there.

Cultivated ground plants are those which
appear in spots in which other plants are cul-
tivated, though not artificially sown there.
Such are the numerous weeds of our corn-
fields, such as the red poppy, ( Papaner rhma!^,
Ej,.j}idnumj .etc.,) the blue bottle, (Centaiirea
cmnus,) the chaidock, (Sinavis ar^snsis.,) and
many others.

Field, meadow, and pasture plants need but
little enumeration. The situations which their
name indicates are so familiar to every eye
used to country scenery, that all must be ac-
quainted with those most common in our native
land, while those of foreign climes need but
little notice at present. Grasses form the prin-
cipal portion of these plants, and the speedwells,
{^Veronica,') the field forget-me-not, {Myosotis
arvensis,) tlie white and red clovers, the butter-
cups, (^Ranunculus,) the field gentian, (^Gentiana
canpestris,) and many others, adorn our fields
and pastures.

Wood, bush, and forest plants are also pretty
well indicated by their name. There are many
beautiful plants of this kind in our country, one
of the most striking of which is the bush-vetch,
(Vida sylvatica,) which is the most elegant
climber of our woods and forests, though it is
but rarely met with. Linncea borealis, a creep-
ing plant, of humble size and growth, with
pretty little pinkish flowers, grows in our
northern fir-woods, and is the plant selected to

THE GEOGUAPUY OF PLANTS.

32

commemorate by its name the illustrious
Swede, the reformer of all previous systems of
natural history, and especially of botany.
Among other wood plants of our land may be
mentioned the lily of the valley, ( ConvaUayia
inajalisj) Solomon’s seal, {Convallarki multi-
jlova,) the wood-ferns, (iMStrcea miiWflora^ and
L. jilix mas,) the herb Paris, (Paris qugdcUiP
lia,) the ophrys, (Epipactis latifolia,) the sweet-
peas, (Lathvrus sj/lvekris, and kllifiiliiiSi) the
butterfly orchis, (Ilabenaria chlorgntha,) and a
multitude of other interesting plants. Of the
trees which compose the woods and forests of
our globe, and of the smaller forest plants of
tropical countries, we shall have occasion to
speak somewhat at length presently, and, there-
fore, may the better omit notice of them just
now.

Heath plants are those which grow on the ex-
tensive commons called heaths. These, though
well known and very extensive in some districts
of our own land, are far surpassed in extent by
those of Prussia, Poland, and Russia ; as, for
example, the vast heaths of Taineberg, which are
said to cover a space of six thousand square miles.
These immense tracts of land are covered with
the common heath, (^Calluna vulgaris,) which
is often spread over very extensive surfaces,
allowing no other plant to grow ; though occa-
sionally considerable quantities of furze, ( Ulex,)
broom, (Cytisus scoparius,) and brake, (Ptet'is
aquilina,) are found amongst it. We have
already alluded to the vast numbers of heaths

PARASITES AND EPirilYTES. 33

which clothe the plains of the Cape of Good
Hope.

JlfiraRitps gn^ Epiphyl£S. These are very
singular plants in their appearance, their
structure, and their habits and manner of
growth. They obtain their nutriment, not
from the soil, like other plants, but by fixing
themselves upon trees or herbaceous plants,
whose juices they absorb, and upon which they
prey. We have but few of these plants native
in our own country, but in foreign countries, in
tropical climes, they swarm, especially in the
dense forests of equinoctial countries. One of
our British parasites, the broom-rape, {Oro-
hanc.lie. mnmr.'S fixes itself upon the roots of the
broom. Another species, (OrobaiicJie 77iinor,)
may not unfrequently be found in clover-fields,
growing upon the roots of the red clover.

A plant, which has of late years proved very
obno.xious to farmers in several parts of the
country, is a parasite called the clover-dodder,
( Cgscuja tjj/olii.) It generally grows upon the
red clover, though occasionally it will attack
other plants. Its habit is singular. Its seeds,
when ripe, drop into the earth, where, in pro-
ces.s of time, they germinate, and send forth a
little snake-like stem, which binds round the
first suitable plant it meets with. As the stem
lengthens, it puts forth from its sides little
conical rootlets or suckers, which penetrate the
bark of the plant around Avhich it has twisted,
and by these it extracts the sap from its sup-
porter. After it has in this manner inserted

B

84

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

several of these suckers, the root dies, and the
dodder thenceforth derives all its nourishment
from the plant to which it has' attached itself.
As it still further lengthens, it puts forth at
intervals globular heads of pinkish or yellowish
flowers, which in due time perfect seeds, and
being shed upon the earth repeat the same pro-
cess. The plant on which it thus preys is com-
monly killed through the exhaustion of its juices
by the parasite Avhich lives on it, and whole
fields of clover have been recently destroyed by
the rapid growth and extension of this destruc-
tive plant.

A gigantic species is mentioned as growing
in Aflghanistan, Avhich even preys upon itself ;
one of its masses half covered a willow tree,
twenty or thirty feet high. The mistletoe

iscinn albuni) is another parasite, Avhich is
Avell-known in this country. Though now only
associated with the festivities of Christmas, it
was formerly employed by the Druids in their
worship, and esteemed by them a sacred plant.
It was gathered with many superstitious cere-
monies, and used by them in those awful
human sacrifices, which often stained the soil,
while our country, unblessed by the light of the
glorious gospel, was sunk in the grossest hea-
then idolatry, and but too plainly proved the
truth of the Scripture declaration, that “the
dark places of the earth are full of the habi-
tations of cruelty.”

, {,Loranthus,) very nearly

allied to the mistletoe, is in warm countries a

THE ORCHIS TRIBE. 35

beautiful object, its brilliant scarlet flowers
forming a most striking contrast with the dark
green leaves of the plant by Avhich it is sup-
ported. But the most interesting and remark-
able parasites, or rather epiphytes, with which
we are acquainted, are the singular species of
the Orchis tribe, which abound in the tropical
forests of South America, and the south-east
of Asia. “ Seated on the branches of living
trees, or resting among the decayed bark of
fallen trunks, or running over mossy rocks, or
hanging above the head of the admiring tra-
veller, suspended from the gigantic arm of some
monarch of the forest, they develop flowers of
the gayest colours, and the most varied forms,
and often fill the woods at night with their
mild and delicate fragrance. For a long time
such plants were thought incapable of being
made to submit to the care of the gardener,
and Europeans remained almost ignorant of
the most curious tribe in the whole vegetable
kingdom. But it has been discovered of late
years, that by care and perseverance they may
be brought to as much perfection in a hot'
house as they acquire in their native woods,
and they now form the pride of the best col-
lections in England.” The celebrated air-plants,
so highly esteemed by the inhabitants of China
and Japan, are epiphytes of this kind, natives
of those countries, but which have the remark-
able power of obtaining sufficient moisture from
the atmosphere to maintain them in a luxuriant
condition for weeks and even months, when

36

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS,

suspended by strings from the ceiling of a
room. In this state they will grow for some
time, blossoming freely, and their beauty and
fragrance cause them to be regarded as favour-
ite ornaments.

In having thus enumerated the principal
kinds of soil and situation which plants inhabit,
it is not to be supposed that every known
species might be ranked under one or other of
these, for there are many plants which will
grow in several stations indifterently ; thus our
common thrift, (^Ai'meria mai'itima,) though
generally found as a maritime plant, growing
abundantly in marshes and pastures on the
sea-coast, is sometimes found far away from
the sea-air, at a considerable altitude on moun-
tains, and it will also grow freely in the most
inland gardens, as a cultivated plant. The
majority of plants, however, prefer a particular
situation, such as one of those we have indicated,
having the conditions suitable to its growth,
and will not succeed well in any other.

INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.

37

CHAPTER II.

Influence of climate— Liglit and Iieat— Cliemical actions —
Zones — Isothermal lines — Summer temperature — Equi-
noctial zone — Baobab— Age of trees— Bombax — Mahogany
—Orchis.^ Climbers — Rafflesia — Tropical forests -Cacao-
nut- Woorali poison — Cassava — Palms— Cocoa-nut— Sago
palm — Arborescent grasses — Bamboo — Sugar-cane— Slavery

— ScitamineK — Gutta percha — Camphor — Spice Islands

— Nutmeg — Clove — Cinnamon — Pepper — Nettles — Upas
—Java— The forbidden fruit.

Having endeavoured to trace the influence
of soil and situation on the growth of plants,
we shall now consider the influence of climate
upon them. We have already stated, that light
and heat are two of the most important agents
in influencing the vegetation of a country, and
as these are more intense in proportion as we
approach the equator, there vegetation is more
luxuriant ; and as all the conditions of their
growth are thus most fully met, the greater
number of species met with there will not sur-
prise us. But it may be Avell to explain the
way in which light and heat act upon plants.
Plants are nourished by carbonic acid, which
they derive partly from the soil and partly from
the air, and though the latter contains this gas
only in the proportion of one part in a thou-
sand, yet this is sufficient to answer all the

38 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

purposes of vegetable life. A process, similar
to that of respiration in animals, is continually
going on in plants, but with a remarkable
difference. Carbonic acid is being continually
absorbed both by the roots and leaves of plants,
especially during the day ; while, under the
influence of light and heat, this absorbed acid
is decomposed by the vessels of the plant, the
carbon being taken up and assimilated as
nutriment, and the oxygen exhaled and re-
turned to the air ; but, during the night, car-
bonic acid is given off unaltered in its nature,
light being absolutely necessary for its decom-
position. This will explain and corroborate
the common notion that plants in a sleeping-
room are unhealthy at night, as the carbonic
acid, which is given off, is injurious. It will
easily be seen, also, that in the tropics, where
there is a clear, unclouded sky, and where light
and heat are most intense, oxygen will be
thrown off during the day in the greatest
abundance. This explains the greater luxuri-
ance of vegetation in those regions, the stimu-
lating influence of these agents causing a much
larger amount of nutriment to be appropriated.
On the contrary, in the higher latitudes, where
light is feebler and the vegetation less vigorous,
carbonic acid is given out in surplus quantity.
The currents of the air, however, and the
winds, restore the equilibrium, the oxygen of
the tropics being carried towards the poles,
and the carbonic acids of the colder climate in
the direction of the equator, to feed the thick

CHEMICAL ACTIONS.

89

and rank growth of the plants and trees of
those latitudes. The influence of light is equally
necessary to promote those peculiar combina-
tions of the elementary constituents of plants
which are termed their secretions, and which,
in fact, render the vegetable creation of such
vast importance to man. Starch, sugar, oils,
gum, caoutchouc, acids, dyes, camphor, opium,
the vegetable alkalies, and a great variety of
other principles, are thus formed ; and if the
growing plant be deprived of any portion of the
degree of light necessary for it, these secretions
will not be formed, or only in diminished
quantity.

A tropical plant of the composite order,
nearly allied to our rag-worts and groundsels,
{Cacalia Jicoides,) illustrates this pow'er of solar
light. Its leaves combine with the oxygen of
the atmosphere during the night, and are as
sour as sorrel in the morning ; as the sun rises,
they gradually lose their oxygen, and become
tasteless at noon ; and by the continued action
of light they lose more and more, till towards
evening they become bitter. The amount of
heat and cold which some plants will bear is
very considerable. While plants are at rest in
the winter they can bear a high degree of cold
without injury. In those regions of Siberia
where the cold is knowm to freeze quicksilver,
(forty degrees below zero,) the vegetation in
summer is much more luxuriant than that of
the North Cape, where cold such as is felt in
Siberia is quite unknown. This same amount

40

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

of cold (40°) is insufficient to destroy the
vitality of seeds. It requires a beat of
122°.

In proceeding to consider more definitely
the influence of various climates upon the
vegetable world, we cannot do better than
follow the system of baron Humboldt, than
whom no man has more successfully studied
this department of botauical science. He pro-
poses to divide each hemisphere into eight
zones, or bands, namely : —

1. 'Fhe Equatorial Zone, from the Equator to 15o n. or s. lat.

2. The Tropical Zone, from 15° to the Trojiics.

3. Tlie Sub-tropical Zone, from the Tropics to 34° n . or s. lat.

4. The Warmer Temperate Zone, from 34“ to 45“ lat.

5. The Colder Temperate Zone, from 45“ to 58“ lat.

6. The Sub-arctic Zone, from 58“ to the Arctic or Antarctic

Circles.

7. The .Arctic Zone, from the Arctic or Antarctic Circles to

72“ lat.

8. The Polar Zone, from 72“ lat. to the Pole.

In adopting these zones, as usefully exhibit-
ing the influence of climate upon vegetation in
general, it is necessary to bear in mind two or
three particulars. One of these is, that it by
no means follows, that because two places are
situated on the same parallel of latitude, that
their temperature and climate are therefore the
same. Thus, though Quebec is in the latitude of
Paris, the country is covered with deep snow
four or five months in the year ; and it has
occurred, that a summer has passed there in
which not more than sixty days have been free
from frost. Rome, Pekin, and New York very
nearly agree in their latitude, but differ widely
both in their climates and productions. 'The

SUMMER TEMPERATURE.

41

plants of Palestine, Florida, and the Carolinas
also, differ widely from each other, though dif-
fering but little in latitude. Isothermal lines
have, therefore, been constructed by naturalists,
that is, imaginary lines passing through those
places whose mean annual temperature is the
same. Thus, an isothermal line may be drawn
through Dublin, London, Manheim, in Ger-
many, and Vienna, in each of which the

average annual temperature is 50°. But it has
been found by observation, that it by no means
follows that the summer is equally hot, and the
winter equally cold, at each of these places, for
it appears that an isothermal line passing fVom
west to east over the continent will, on an aver-
age, have a higher summer temperature and a
lower winter one, as it proceeds eastward. This
will be shown on the above line.

Mean Mean Mean PifTer-

Annual Summer 'Winter eucee.

Temperature. Temperature. Temperature.

Dublin ... 500 ... 590 ... 410 ... 18®

London ... 50 ... 63 ... 39 ... 24

Manheim . , 50 ... 67 ... 3’ ... 34

Vienna ... 50 ... 69 ... 3:. ... 37

Thus, Vienna, though far hotter in summer
than Dublin, has a much colder winter. The
amount of average summer temperature is,
however, of more importance to the range of
some plants than the mean annual temperature,
inasmuch as they flourish and ripen their seeds
before the cold of winter comes on. This is
singularly exemplified at the Land’s-end, in
England. Here the summer temperature is so
low, that the vine, apricot, and greengage will

B 2

42 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

not produce ripe fruit, and the winter is so
mild that the myrtle, camellia, and other green-
house plants, grow luxuriantly in the open air
all the 3'ear round. In the northern hemi-
sphere of the globe, all the eastern coasts of
continents and islands are colder than the
Avestern coasts of the same latitudes. This is
confirmed by repeated observations, though we
cannot tell why. Ireland, England, and Bel-
gium, have the same isothermal line, but on
the eastern coast of Asia it passes just above
Pekin, in China, Avhich is 12° nearer the
equator. Pekin has the same parallel of lati-
tude with the south of Italy and Toledo, in
Spain, where the orange flourishes, and many a
tropical plant ; but at Pekin, the winter’s cold
is far greater thatt in Great Britain, and falls
short by only two or three degrees of that at
North Cape. Canada is further south than
Paris, yet it shows the temperature of Drou-
theim, in Norwaj'. The trees which grow at
New York, in the latitude of Naples, flower at
the same time as they do at Upsal. Norway,
exposed to the moist and temperate atmosphere
of the ocean, enjoys a singularly mild winter,
but receives very little of the sun’s rays in
summer. Lapland has a colder winter, but a
warmer summer ; and, accordingly, it is found
that such plants as require only a few weeks of
warm Aveather to bring them to perfection,
succeed in Lapland, though they Avill not groAv
in NorAvay ; AA'hile those Avhich are easily killed
by severe frost, flourish better in NorAA\ay than

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

43

in Lapland. These facts, which might easily
be multiplied, sufficiently prove the statement
made ; but though we cannot doubt the fact,
the cause is by no means so obvious. We must,
however, leave this, and proceed to review
the various zones, and their productions.

First, then. The Equinoctial Zone extends for
15° on each side of the equator, and has a mean
annual temperature of 78° to 82° Fahr., a heat
which, with a high degree of atmospherical
moisture, calls forth an extraordinary profusion
of vegetation, of the greatest variety of form
and most brilliant colours. The principal
countries embraced in these limits are Central
Africa, including the Guinea Coast, and Abys-
sinia, etc., Ceylon, the southernmost part of
Hindostan, -Malaya, Cochin China, Sumatra,
Borneo, Java, New Guinea, and the multitude
of islands in that part of the eastern seas, the
northernmost portion of Australia, and the
northern part of South America, including
Columbia, Peru, the Guianas, and part of
Brazil. This zone is characterized by the
gigantic forests so peculiar to the tropics.
“ The atmosphere of these forests, where vapour
is continually ascending, is oppressively hot
and damp. The shrill pipe of the large
crickets, high up in the tops of the trees, and
the loud croaking of the horrid vampyre, the
flying-dog, and blood-sucker, often for days
accompany the wanderer in the foTests of
India.” Palms, bananas, orchises, arborescent
grasses, and gigantic climbers, are among the

44 THE GEOSnAPHY OF PLANTS.

most characteristic plants seen in the zone.
The immense size of some of the trees of this
region excites universal astonishment. The
Baobab, or monkey-bread, (Adarisonia digitata,)
a native of Senegal, Cape de Verd Islands,
Egypt, and Nubia, is one of the most gigantic
trees known. The trunks of this species are
found of the enormous size of from seventy to
one hundred feet in circumference ; the spread
of the branches is extensive ; main roots have
been traced to the distance of one hundred feet
from the main stem. The height of the.se
enormous stems is not by any means in pro-
portion to their size, frequently not much ex-
ceeding their diameter, this being often thirty-
four feet, while the tree itself is rarely more
than fifty or sixty feet high. It covers the
sandy plains so entirely with its umbrella-shaped
top, that a forest of these trees presents a com-
pact surface, which at some distance seems to
be a green field. Cape Verd has its name
from the numbers that conceal the barren soil
under their spreading tops. The hollow trunks
of the baobab are often so capacious, that several
negro families will take up their abode in one.

The gigantic size of these trees has often
astonished the traveller, and has led to investi-
gations with regard to their probable age. It
is known to most observers, that the principal
forest trees (in our own country, all) increase
by coatings from without, and that the concen-
tric rings visible on cutting across the stem
afford an indication of the age, each ring being

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

45

the produce of a year ; the greater or less
breadth of the rings also exhibiting the com-
parative favourableness of the season. If the
number of rings in a transverse section are
counted, and the girth ascertained by mea-
surement, data are obtained, by which an ap-
proximation may be made to the age of any
otlfhr tree of the same species still growing.
The yew is the longest lived of any European
tree. A yew, at Fountain Abbey, is consi-
dered to be 1,214 years old. One at Crow-
hurst, in Surrey, was 1,400 years old, when
measured by Evelyn ; another atFotherngill, in
Scotland, was between 2,500, and 2,600 yciurs
old ; and another at Braburn, in Kent, 3,000
years of age. Oaks are considered to live
1,500 or 1,600 years. One in Welbecklane
was computed by Evelyn to be 1,400 years
old. Chesnut-trees are known to live 900
years ; lime-trees have attained 500 or 600
years in France. The alpine willow, which
covers the ground with its leaves, although it
is really a subterranean tree, is long lived.
An ivy, near Montpellier, six feet in circum-
ference, must be 485 years old. Eight olive-
trees on the Mount of Olives are supposed to be
800 years old ; it is, at least, certain that they
existed before the taking of Jerusalem by the
Turks. The largest cedar on Mount Lebanon is
nine feet in diameter, and is probably of the age
of 800 or 900 years. Two cedars in the Botanic
Garden at Chelsea were mentioned 600 years
ago.

46 TUE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

All these, however, are tar distanced by the
tree which has led to these remarks — the Baobab
of Senegal, one of which was estimated to be
5,150 years old ; yet baron Humboldt con-
siders a cypress in the garden Chapullepec to
be still older ; it had already reached a great age
Avhen ISIontezuma was on the throne of klexico,
in 1520. But to retuim from this digression ;
the Bomhax, or silk cotton tree, is another of
these equinoctial trees of gigantic life. From
the excessive abundance of the pith, its trunks
increase prodigiously in thickness, and lose
the common cylindrical shape, appearing like
huge casks, thirty or forty feet high, and of
proportionate circumference. It is often em-
ployed for making canoes, and a single trunk
has been known to hold one hundred and fifty
men. It derives its name from the silky cha-
racter of the hairs, which surround the seeds
just as the wool of the true cotton does. It
cannot, however, be spun into threads, the
peculiar smoothness of the hairs preventing
them from binding together, while on the true
cotton there are minute roughnesses on the
filaments, which materially serve this purpose.

Among the other gigantic trees of the equi-
noctial zone, we may mention various species of
the Mimosa, (often called Acacia^ the maho-
gany tree, (Sioietenia,) the Brazil wood, {Ccosal-
pinia,) the locust tree, {Mymencea,) bread fruit
tree, (Artocarpus,) cashew nut, {A7iacardiiim,)
custard apple, (Anona,) etc. Martins repre-
sents a scene in Brazil, where some trees of the

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

47

locust kind occurred of such enormous dimen-
sions, that fifteen Indians, with outstretched
arms, could only just embrace them. At the
bottom they were eighty-four feet in circum-
ference, and sixty-feet where the boles became
cylindrical. By counting the annual rings of
growth in such parts as were accessible, he
arrived at the conclusion that they were of the
age of hlomer. The mahogany tree inhabits
this zone, and flourishes in most soils, but
that which grows on dry rocky ground is
most esteemed, as it has the richest colour,
takes the highest ' polish, and is the hardest
wood.

The trees are felled at two seasons — after
Christmas and towards Midsummer. The logs
are generally then conveyed to the rivers, where
they are precipitated into the stream, down
which they are floated to the “ booms,” which
are large cables stretched across the stream at
particular spots. Sometimes the boom breaks
with the pressure, and then more than a thou-
sand logs are hurried out to sea, and irrecover-
ably lost. Some years ago, Messrs. Broad-
wood, the pianoforte manufacturers, gave the
enormous sum of £3,000 for three logs of
mahogany, each about fifteen feet long and
thirty-eight inches square, and the produce of a
single tree. The wood was especially beautiful,
capable of receiving the highest polish, and
when polished reflecting the light in the most
varied manner, and from the wavy form of the
pores, ofi’ering a difierent figure in whatever

48

THE GEOORAPIIT OF PLANTS.

direction it was viewed. 31,G68 tons of maho-
gany were imported into this country in 1848.

But we must leave these gigantic denizens of
the forest, and survey some of the other aspects
of the vegetation of this zone. As in the woods
of our own country the bark of the trees is
covered with mosses and lichens, so the trees of
these tropical forests exhibit a profusion of the
most luxuriant and elegant forms ; splendid
parasites of the orchis tribe grow in the clefts
and crevices of the bark, with llowers of the
most brilliant hues, and the greatest variety
of singular forms. The liiost elegant ferns,
{Polypodiinn, Hymenophyllum, and Tricho-
manes,) climb up the trunks like ivy, or they
grow in tufts, which fasten on the branches,
and contrast in a peculiar manner with
the foliage. In the forests of the Phillippine
Islands, a large handsome polypodium often
entirely covers a large part of the branch on
which it grows with its thick, bright brown,
scaly roots, and with its fronds, two or three
feet long, of a bright yellow colour, contrsists
most strikingly with the brown roots, and the
dark green foliage around. If any little spot
of the bark is left ttncovered by these parasites,
it is fastened on by lichens, mosses, and junger-
nannife ; and some of the latter, of which it
requires the microscope to reveal the exquisite
beauty, grow upon the leaves of the other
parasites — parasite upon parasite.

But not only are the forest trees covered
with these splendid orchises, but a whole host

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

49

of climbing plants, taking root in the ground, at
first twine up the trunks and branches, and
afterwards, forsaking their parent soil, continue
to grow up as parasites. The stems of some of
these climbers have a singular inclination to
throw off their bark whenever they are irri-
tated by contact, and spread themselves upon
the substance of the foreign body ; thus, the
branches of the parasite by degrees coalesce,
and the strength of the original root being
weakened, the stem sends down air roots, and
thus continually gains fresh strength and space.
On the banks of the Rio Guama, Martins saw
whole rows of a species of palm, so overgrown
by one of these climbers, that the parasite had
formed around the trunk (which was thirty
feet high) a cylindrical tube, which bore leaves
and flowers on short branches, and from the top
of which rose the noble crown of the palm. In
the forests of South America, some of these
climbers form living ropes, or rattan cables,
which produce neither leaves nor flowers for a
length of thirty or forty feet ; and in the Asiatic
forests similar ropes arc formed by various
species of passion-flower and rattan canes,
(Calamics,) and these bind the trees together
with such power, that the strongest hurricane
cannot tear them asunder. So luxuriant and
profuse is the vegetation of these regions, that
even from the roots of the trees spring up
a variety of plants, often of gigantic size and of
singular form.

The RaJjHesioe, etc., of the Indian Archipelago,

60 THE GEOGEAPHY OF PLANTS.

are in appearance like large flowering mush-
rooms. Rafflesia Arnoldi, the most extraordi-
nary species, has blossoms nine feet in circum-
ference. The blossom is nearly all the plant,
there being no leaves, and scarcely any stems or
roots. Its buds are the size of an ordinary
cabbage, and the flower, which is of a brick-
red colour, smells of carrion. One, which was
weighed and measured, was found to be ten and
a half feet in circumference, fifteen pounds in
weight, and the cup in its centre would contain
a gallon and a half of liquid. The tropical
parts of America and the South Sea Islands
abound with various species of a different root-
parasite, {Balanophora,') of the most varied forms,
and the richest colours. They greatly resemble
fungi, with short, fleshy, branched stems, and
the flower-stalks covered with tiled scales, and
the flowers collected into dense heads.

In proportion to the rich beauty which a
tropical forest displays, crowded with the vari-
ous plants we have indicated, and with hun-
dreds of similar species, is its fearful grandeur
when agitated by a storm. “ To be in such
a forest during a violent hurricane is de-
scribed as more fearful than to struggle with
the raging waves in the open sea, and even
far less violent storms produce sublime spec-
tacles. "W hen the boisterous wind catches
hold of the tops of the gigantic trees of these
natural forests, and shakes the branches and
trunks against each other, the air is filled with
a fearful rushing, thundering, rattling, and

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

51

crashing ; even the strong lianas are torn
asunder, and the broken branches and stems
fall to the ground. Great quantities of the
parasites are thrown down from their lofty
situations, and the trees are stripped of their
fruit, which, generally cased in a hard shell,
falls to the ground with a loud crash. The
rain, at first warded off by the thick canopy of
foliage, now falls in so much the greater masses,
and adds to the horrors of the moment ; almost
all the inhabitants of the forest betray their
fear by mournful howling and crying ; the apes,
the large bats, and the whole host of birds, call
loudly all together ; and the croaking of the tree-
frogs, and others of this family, sometimes like
the sound of a drum, discloses the great misery
of the moment. The insects only, which long
before announced the coming uproar, are now
silent, and keep close on the under surface of
the leaves till all is over, and the sun again
shines brightly out.”

These vast forests abound in tropical America;
“ the upper Oronoko flows for some hundreds
of miles, chiefly through forests, and the banks
of the Amazon are crowded with dense woods.
In these the trees are colossal, and the vegeta-
tion so matted together by underwood, parasites,
and climbers, that the sun’s rays can scarce
penetrate the dense foliage ; and so profusely
are plants scattered here, that these forests vary
very much in different places, though the climate
and temperature are the same. Venezuela,
Brazil, Guiana, Rio Negro, and Para, have

52 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

each a flora peculiarly their own ; nay, every
river, and sometimes each tributary stream, has
a different vegetation. No language can de-
scribe the glory of the forests of the Amazon
and Brazil, the endless variety of forms, the
contrasts of colour and size ; there even the
largest trees bear brilliant blossoms ; scarlet,
purple, blue, rose-colour, and golden yellow,
are blended with every possible shade of green.

impenetrable and everlasting vegetation
covers the ground ; decay and death are con-
cealed by the luxuriance of life ; the trees are
loaded with parasites when alive ; they become
masses of living plants when they die.”

Many parts of the coasts of Venezuela and
Guiana are covered by woods of mangroves,
avicennias, and the manchineel, with the un-
healthy exhalations so peculiar to the places
these trees select in such climates. The cocoa,
or chocolate tree, {Theohroma cacao,') grows wild
in Guiana, IMexico, and the east of the Caraccas ;
it is now cultivated extensively, and as far
south as Chili, and also in the Canary and
Phillippine Islands. Whole forests of it occur
in Demerara. It bears a fruit something like a
short cucumber, full of seeds, which are the
chocolate nuts. It is now very extensively
used, and more than ever. 6,444,204 pounds
were imported into this country in 1848, of
which 2,935,479 pounds were entered for home
consumption, and 1,604,813 pounds exported to
other places. But the quantity consumed in
England is trifling compaied with that required

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

53

by other countries. A much larger quantity is
consumed in France ; in Spain it i.s commonly
drunk, in the shape of chocolate, for breakfast ;
in Mexico it is considered an article of prime
necessity.

In Guiana grows the Stryclmos toxicaria^ a
creeping plant, from the fruit and bark of
which the natives prepare the woorali poison,
one of the most deadly known. Arrows dipped
in the prepared juice are blown through tubes,
formed from the intemodes of a reed, {^Arundi-
naria Schomburgkii,) and with a precision that
rarely fails of its victim. Schomburgk thus
speaks of its effects: “We were travelling
over the Savannahs, girt by the Paracaima
Mountains ; a deer was discovered browsing in
the high grass before us. One of the Indians
took a poisoned spike from his sarima, and
fi.xed it to his arrow. Cautiously he stole upon
the unsuspecting deer, and shot the arrow into
its neck ; it made a jump in the air, fled with
the speed of the wind over the Savannahs, but
had scarcely run forty yards when it fell pant-
ing to the ground, and expired. I have seen
the tapir swimming across the Rupumuni, so
slightly wounded that the spike had scarce
penetrated its thick skin ; nevertheless, it took
effect, and the animal expired.” The blow-
pipes above alluded to are the produce of a
singular reed, allied to the bamboos, and hollow
inside ; they are called ciirata by the natives.
The stem is about one and a half inches in
diameter, or five inches in circumference, and

54 THE GEOGRAPHT OF PLANTS.

rises from the root-stock to aheight(often) of six-
teen feet without a joint, and of equal thickness
throughout. The first joint then occurs, and the
first branchlets are formed. A joint thenappears
at ever)’’ fifteen or eighteen inches, to a further
height of forty to fifty feet. The whole stem is
from fifty to sixty feet high, but the weight of
the numerous branchlets forces the slender stem
to droop, and the upper part describes an arch,
which adds greatly to its graceful appearance.

Two kinds of mandioc, or cassava, grow
in Spanish America and Brazil, which bear
tuberous roots, the farina of which is used
as food by the natives ; the root of one is harm-
less, but the other contains a poisonous milky
juice, the efiects of which are removed by
cultivation or pressure. Its limit of growth
extends to about 30° on each side of the
equator, and an acre of it is said to yield as
much nutriment as six acres of wheat. The
humiria (a native of South America) has so
powerful a perfume, that it has been inhaled at
the distance of three miles out at sea.

We h ave already mentioned palms as among
the characteristic plants of this zone. There
are no less than four hundred known species of
this remarkable and beautiful tribe, eighty-one
of which inh.abit tropical Brazil alone ; some
with hardly any stem, others towering to the
height of one hundred and thirty feet. So
narrow here arc their geographical limits, that
Humboldt and Bonpland discovered a new
species in every fifty miles of travelling. The

T«E EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

55

palm has ever been the queen of the woods, not
only on account of the beauty of its form, but
because of its extraordinary usefulness. Though
the species of palm are so numerous, there are
few, perhaps none, which are not in some way
useful to man. No other tribe produces such
enormous quantities of fruit. Alfonsia amygda-
lina, a South American species, has 207,000
flowers in a single flower-sheath, or 600,000
upon an individual, though all do not ripen.
The seje palm of the Oronoko bears 8,000
fruits on every branch. The whole tribe is one
of the most interesting in the vegetable king-
dom ; their towering stems, their majestic
foliage, their immense value as affording food,
raiment, and a variety of products of economical
and commercial importance, the character of
grandeur they impress upon the landscape, and
the great variety of their appearance and habits
— all combine to attract attention to them. We
shall glance briefly at a few of those which
inhabit this zone.

The cocoa palm is, perhaps, the most im-
portant of all. Its native country is the old
w’orld and the South Sea Islands ; it has, pro-
, bably, migrated to America, and grows there
in great numbers on the West India Islands
and Brazil. In the Southern Ocean it often
points out to the mariner the rocks of coral on
which it grows, and which are so dangerous to
navigators. On the damp coasts of India and
the rich Island of Ceylon, the cocoa palms grow
in millions, and not only minister to the wants

56 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

of the inhabitants, but form a profitable article
of trade. In the south of Ceylon there is a
forest of the cocoa palms, which stretches along
the sea-shore for twenty-six miles, is several
leagues in breadth, and is estimated to contain
eleven millions of full-grown trees. When the
Dutch were masters of Ceylon, six thousand
casks of arrack, three millions of pounds of coir
rope, (a cordage made from cocoa fibres,) and
an immense quantity of oil, were annually ob-
tained from this forest. Like all other fruit-
trees, it is improved by cultivation. It grows
rapidly, and at six years old often bears thirty
nuts. When full grown it will produce two
hundred to three hundred nuts, and will live to
the age of one hundred years. The fresh ripe
nut is full of a fluid as clear as water, and of a
sweetish taste, which is an extremely cooling
and agreeable drink, often enthusiastically
praised by travellers. The kernel, boiled in
sugar, forms a delicious sweetmeat, and is
universally eaten in the Spanish colonies in
tropical countries. The cocoa nut oil is ob-
tained by long boiling the kernel in water, and
then pressing it ; it is largely used in our
manufactories. It is surprising that it is not
more generally used as a domestic article, as,
instead of the very unpleasant smell of fish oil,
it has rather an agreeable odour, and is readily'
consumed in open glass vessels, with floating or
standing wicks, whatever the temperature of
the air may be. The nut-shells are used by
the natives for drinking-cups, and being very

TUE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

57

hard, and susceptible of a high polish, are also
formed into numerous ornamental articles. The
fibrous husk is made into cordage, ropes, (coir
rope,) mats, brushes, and similar articles. The
leaves are used for thatching ; and the stems,
though they cannot be cut into planks, are used
entire, as pillars in the support of large build-
ings. From the sap an excellent wine is
produced, which, however, will keep but a
very short time ere it becomes converted into
vinegar.

Another valuable species is the sago palm, or
rather number of species, for several ai'e known
which yield this important article of commerce.
The principal ones are, Sagus Icevis, S. genidna,
S. liumphii, Cycas circinalis, Cycas revoluta,
Caryota ureiis, Phoenix farinifera, and Saguerus
saccharifer. They grow extensively in the East
Indies, Siam, China, Japan, Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, Malacca, etc. Sago is prepared from the
pith of the trunk, which must be cut down for
the purpose. The pith is only fit for making
sago immediately before the flowering of the
tree ; at a later stage, either none is obtained, or
only a bad woody kind. The pith being ex-
tracted, is rubbed down in water into small
particles, which will pass through a sieve. A
single trunk of S(xgus Btirnphii, fifteen years old,
will yield 600 pounds of sago ; and an acre of
land, planted with these palms, yields an annual
produce of 8,000 pounds.

Saguerus saccharifer, one of the sago palms, is
a very important species. It is very common in

58 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

the Asiatic Archipelago, the Moluccas, and the
Phillippine Islands. Its juice is obtained in large
quantities, by wounding the flowering spathe : it
yields by evaporation a kind of sugar, and by
fermentation an intoxicating drink. When the
trees are exhausted of sap, from 150 to 200
pounds of good sago may be obtained from the
trunk. The timber is extremely hard, and
useful for building purposes ; and from four to
seven pounds of strong horse-hair like fibres,
may be annually obtained from the leaf-stalks :
these are extensively used in making cordage,
ropes, and cables. Its fruit is very acid, ex-
citing severe inflammation in the mouth of those
who chew it ; it was the basis of the “ infernal
water” which the Moluccas used in their wars
to pour over their enemies. Another palm
{Borassiis Jlabelliformis) grows in extensive
groves in the valley of the Irrawaddy ; it is a
magnificent tree, often one hundred feet high,
remarkable for its gigantic leaves, one of which
would shelter twelve men.

The celebrated betel nut is the fruit of a
palm, (Ai'eca catechu^ and is chewed by the
Indians with the leaf of a species of pepper,
which together produce powerful narcotic and
intoxicating effects. We are told that the
Asiatic nations would rather forego meat and
drink than their favourite betel nuts, whole
ship-loads of which are annually exported from
Sumatra, Malacca, Siam, and Cochin China.
A' egetable ivory and palm oil are the products
of palms. The former is the fruit of Phytelephas

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

59

macrocat'pa, called by tlie natives “ Negrohead.”
It is found in the groves of Peru, in the hotter
part of the Andes. The latter (palm oil) is
obtained by expression from the fruit of Elais
gumeensis, a native of the western coast of Africa.
Enormous quantities of this oil are employed
in Europe as a sort of grease, and in the manu-
facture of soap and candles. It is of a deep
orange colour, but is often bleached for use in
the arts. 510,129 cwts. were imported into
this country in 1848.

A very remarkable feature in this zone is
that which we have already alluded to under
the name of arborescent grasses, and of which
one of the most remarkable is the bamboo,
(^Bainbicsa,) which often forms woods as ex-
tensive as the pine and fir forests of the northern
regions. These gigantic grasses have a stem
often fifty or sixty, or even a hundred feet high,
sending out lateral branches. Their form is
remarkably elegant ; their slender trunks, with
bending branches, and long grassy leaves, are
very singular ; they somewhat remind the Euro-
pean traveller of the willows of his native coun-
try. They are planted in tropical countries to
adorn the landscape, as the willow is with us ;
and a beautiful lawn, surrounded by bamboos,
as may be seen in India, is a most charming
object. To the Indian savage, bamboos afford
almost all he wants, excepting food. “ With their
lightest shoots he makes his arrows, the fibres of
the wood form bow-strings, and from the larger
stems he fabricates a bow ; a long and slender

60 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

shoot affords him a lance-shaft, and he finds its
hardened point a natural head for the Aveapon.
With the hardened stems he builds the walls
and roof of his hut, its leaves afford him an
impenetrable thatch, split into narrow slips it
gives him the material for weaving his nets,
and other articles of domestic convenience, and
its fibre furnishes him with twine. Would he
commit himself to the waves, the stems form
the hull of his boat, Avhich, by a few skins
stretched over it, is rendered water-tight ; they
also give him masts, and these slips of wood
become cordage, and are Avoven into sails.”

In Japan, China, and India, the stems of the
bamboo are applied to a great variety of useful
purposes. Water pipes are made of them ;
they are used in constructing fences, houses,
and boats, and a variety of articles of furniture.
Some of the gigantic reeds of Brazil, called
2'aguarussa, are living fountains ; they grow
from thirty to forty feet high, and eighteen
inches in circumference, forming thorny im-
penetrable thickets ; to hunters and travellers
they are exceedingly grateful, for, on cutting
off such a reed just beloAv the joint, the stem
of the younger shoots is found to be full of a
cool liquid, Avhich quenches the most burning
thirst.

Another gigantic grass, Avhich has been more
closely identified Avith the interests of the
human race than any other of the tribe, is the
sugar-cane. It is a native of the old Avorld,
which Avas cultivated in China and the South

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

Cl

Sea Islands before the historical era, and
Columbus found it wild in many parts of
America. The sugar-cane succeeds best with
a mean temperature of 75° or 77°, but can be
cultivated in colder parts, where it amounts to
66° or 68°. The limit of sugar culture
stretches therefore from the equator to some
distance beyond the tropics ; it is even found
cultivated in Sicily and Spain. On the moun-
tains of Mexico and Columbia, it is grown even
to the height of 6,000 feet ; and sugar plan-
tations were formed by Cortes on the table-land
of the town of Mexico, at 6,600 feet above the
level of the sea.

On the Himalayan mountains, also, sugar and
cotton are grown on the table-lands at the
height of 4,500 feet. Sugar is chiefly culti-
vated as an article of commerce in the West
I Indies, Brazil, and India. The sugar-cane is
raised from shoots two or three feet in length,
Avhich are prepared from the shaft of the full-
! grown plant. In fourteen days, the shoots spring
from the joints, and in the space of a year
the shaft, or main stem, is so Air grown that
it may be cut down. On land freshly taken in
which is well planted, and not exposed to long
inundations, the sugar-cane yields from twenty
to thirty annual crops, since new shoots spring
every year from the perennial root. Humboldt
saw a sugar plantation in Cuba which had
been in existence forty-five years. The native
sugar-cane of Tahiti has been planted in the
West Indies, and is found to be far richer than

62 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

the old variety ; it yields a quarter more juice,
and a larger and more solid mass of wood for
fuel. It seems, however, that the East Indian
sugar-cane is still more productive than that
from Tahiti ; for, in Bengal, the produce is
twice as great as in Havannah, while the Avages
of the Indian are only one-third the cost of
maintaining a slave.

The process for making raAV sugar is briefly
as folloAvs : — The leaA’^es having been stripped
oflf by machinery, the stems are passed betAveen
poAverful rollers, Avhich crush them so as to
express the juice, Avhich, being collected as it
floAvs, is then evaporated by successive boilings,
the crushed canes being used as fuel ; it is then
clarified, and finally crystallized. From this
the uncrystallizable sugar, called molasses, or
treacle, is then drained, and the remainder,
namely, raAV sugar, being packed in hogsheads, is
ready for exportation. Very large quantities of
spirits (rum) are also distilled from the crushed
canes, and from the molasses. The quantity
of raAV sugar imported into this country, in
1848, Avas 6,871,468 cwts. ; but a considerable
qiiantity, after having been refined and made
into lump sugar, is exported. The quantity
of molasses, or treacle, imported during the
same period, Avas 517,721 CAA'ts. ; and of rum,
6,85fl,340 gallons. i

We cannot, hoAvever, think of sugar and its I
culth'ation, Avithout remembering its intimate
connexion Avith negro slaA^ery and the slaA'e-
trade ; a system of which Ave cannot speak

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

68

in terms of too great indignation ; a. sin
in which our beloved country has happily
at length ceased to participate, though the
guilt of it lay at her door many years ; and
still America — enlightened America — persists
in committing, and holds in common with
Spain and many other nations. How many
barbarous cruelties — how much gross oppres-
sion— how many cold-blooded murders — how
much covetous less, licentiousness, and every
kind of iniquity, have been the fruit of this
accursed system. He alone knows who knows all
things. Truly were

‘‘ Slavery’s island altars built
And fed with human victims; while the cries
Of blood, de.Tianding vengeance from the skies,
Assail’d the trader’s grovelling heart in vain—

Hearts dead to sympathy, alive to gain.

Hard from imnunity, with avarice cold.

Sordid as garth, insensible as gold.”

"’We rejpieb that our country has purged her-
self from the crime, and long to see the day
Avhen, in every land, slavery and oppression
shall for ever cease. The gospel alone, how-
ever, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can
produce this change, and the best way to pro-
mote it is to seek, by effort and prayer, the
universal diffusion of the religion of Christ,
which, by renewing the heart through faith in
him, brings “ glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good-will toward men.”

I A striking feature among the plants of this
zone is the ginger tribe, Scitaminece, the rich
and glowing colours of their flowers and floral
leaves rendering them objects of great beauty.

G4 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

Ginger and turmeric are the chief economical
products of the tribe ; the latter is used in
dyeing, affording a beautiful yellow. It is the
root-stock, or rhizome, of Curcuma longa, a
native of eastern Asia. Ginger is the same
part of the plant of Zingiber ojficinale, a native
of the south-east of Asia and the adjoining
islands, but earl}'^ transplanted to America and
the West Indies, where it has been cultivated
with great success. Most of what is now used
is imported from Jamaica, Bengal, the Malabar
coast, and Africa ; the first is, however, the
best. Galangale, zedoary, and cardamoms, are
also the produce of plants of this order.

In the Archipelago of Asia, which lies
almost entirely in this zone, jungle and pesti-
lential woods entirely cover the smaller islands,
and the plains of the larger ; the coasts are
lined by forests of mangroves, bamboos, and
trees overgroAvn by myriads of orchideaceous
parasites ; here, too, abounds the tree yielding
gutta percha, {Isonandra guita,) which has
recently become an important article in com-
merce, being capable of application to so
many purposes of utility and elegance. The
forest trees of these islands are almost un-
known ; the greater part are quite peculiar to
them. The naturalist, Rumphius, had a cabinet
inlaid with four hundred kinds of wood, the
produce of Amboyna and the Molucca Islands.
Sumatra, Java, and the adjacent islands, pro-
duce a tree, (^Drgobalanops camphora,'') in whose
stems solid lumps of a remarkable kind of

TUE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE,

65

camphor are found, which is greatly valued in
China, and fetches a very high price. The
camphor of commerce is principally obtained
from Camphora ojicinarum, a tree of the laurel
tribe, a native of China, Japan, and Cochin
China, The camphor is obtained from the
wood, branches, and leaves, which are boiled in
water, and the camphor sublimes. As im-
ported, it is in small grains, dirty and greyish
in colour ; it is puriHed in this country by
sublimation. In some species of cinnamon,
camphor is contained in such abundance,
especially in the roots, that they are unfit for
use as a spice.

Most ot‘ the spices are limited in their distri-
bution. Thus the Myvistica moschata, which
produces nutmegs and mace, is confined to the
Banda Islands, but is said to have been lately
discovered in New Guinea. The Dutch, who
were masters of these islands at an early
period, endeavoured to secure the exclusive
trade and growth of these valuable spices, and
so to regulate the quantity produced as to keep
up high prices. Sometimes they cut down
trees, and at other times destroyed immense
quantities of the spice, if the crop was too
plentiful. They more than once, however,
suffered dearly for their avarice, the nutmeg
trees of Banda having been nearly destroyed
by hurricanes and earthquakes, which spared
other islands. The quantities imported into
this country, in 1848, were, of mace, 47,572
pounds, aud of nutmegs, 336,420 pounds.

G6 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

The clove tree, (^Caryophylltis aromaticvs,) a
plant of the myrtle tribe, inhabits the Aniboyna
and Molucca groups, but has been introduced
into many parts of Asia, many of the West
India Islands, Cayenne, Mauritius, and Bour-
bon. The Dutch, who possessed the Spice
Islands, pursued the same absurd and covetous
practice with the clove trees, which we have
already noticed with regard to the nutmegs ;
and the practice, more than once, occasioned an
insurrection among the natives, who regard the
clove trees with great attachment, and are in
the habit of planting one at the birth of each
child. Every part of the clove tree is covered
with minute dots, or glands, which secrete and
contain an aromatic oil ; and so abundant is it
in the flower-buds, (which when dried are the I
cloves of commerce,) that it may be expressed j
from them. It is one of the few essential oils
tliat are heavier than Avater. The annual pro-
duce is from tAvo to two and a-half pounds from
each tree ; but a tine tree has been knoAvn to
yield 125 pounds; and as 5,000 cloves Aveigh
one pound, there must have been, at least,
625,000 flowers on this single tree. The quan-
tity imported in 1848 aa'as 105,295 pounds.

Cinnamon and pepper also groAv in these
same islands. The former is the b.ark of
Cinnamonwm zeylanicuin, and the best is the
produce of the young branches, from one to
tAvo inches in diameter. The cinnamon im-
ported into England is chiefly brought from
Ceylon, and is groAvn principally in tlie neigh-

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. 67

bourhood of Columbo. The quantity imported
in 1848 was 357,463 pounds. An inferior
kind of cinnamon, called cassia, or Cassia lignea,
is the bark of Cinnamomum aromaticim^ and is
imported principally from Singapore. The
principal city of the province Kwangse, in
China, is named Kweihin, or Cassia Forest,
from the forests of cassia around it. 510,247
pounds were imported in 1848. So powerful
is the perfume of the cinnamon plants, that it
is wafted far out to sea. This is alluded to
by bishop Heber, in Ins beautiful hymn :

“ What thoui^li the spicy breezes
Blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle,

Where every prospect pleases,

And only man is vile ;

In vain with lavish kindness
The gifts of God are strewn.

The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone."

Cinnamon was among the spices known to the
Jews, and was doubtless imported into Pales-
tine by the Arabians, who were the chief
merchants to India in ancient times, and were
the medium through which the spices, and
other productions of India, were carried into
western Asia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Cin-
namon was in use in very early times. It Avas
among the spices Avhich were appointed for
perfuming “ the holy anointing oil,” Avith
Avhich the tabernacle, the sacred vessels, and
the priests Avere to be auointed, (Exod. xxx.
23 — 31.) It is placed among other fragrant
plants in Solomon’s Song iv. 14. Cassia is
also mentioned in the former passage, and

68 TUU GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

again in Ezek. xxvii. 19, as one of the arti-
cles which were prominent in the markets of
Tyre.

Pepper is another important production of
the Spice Islands ; though it has been intro-
duced there, and is a native of the East Indies
and Malabar. It can be cultivated in tropical
countries only, and even there its limits are
very narrow, extending but to a few degrees
on either side of the equator. Its cultivation
is thus managed : — Ground, covered by wood, is
chosen, and cleared by felling, burning, etc.,
and then divided into beds, each six feet
square, in each of which is fixed a support, on
which the plant may climb. This is either a
pole, or a slender living tree ; the latter is pre-
ferred when it can be had. The pepper is
planted by slips, two plants being set by each
pole ; in three years, they gain the height of
from eight to twelve feet, and begin to bear fruit.
About this time, when the pepper has become
lipe, the whole plant is cut doAvn to the length
of throe feet, carefully separated from the sup-
port, and laid horizontally in a circle on the
ground, so that the ends again take root. The
plant now shoots out afresh, and bears every
year a large quantity of fruit ; without this
treatment it would chiefly have thrown out
leaves. The berries are at first green, but, ,
when ripe, are a beautiful red. Whenever a .
part of the berries are ripe, the whole are
taken off, and spread on mats or on the ground,
where they become dry, of a black colour andf

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

G9

•wrinkled surface, forming black pepper. Wliite
pepper is prepared from the perfectly ripe
berries, by soaking them in 'water to deprive
them of their skins, -which are carefully sepa-
rated, and the pepper is then sun-dried. The
berries require four or five months to ripen.

Full-grown pepper plants yield two crops in
the year ; and the produce of one thousand
plants is considered to be equal to four hundred
or four hundred and fifty pounds of pepper.
In Java, the crop is so great sometimes, that
the leaves of the plant cannot be seen for the
immense quantity of berries. A much larger
quantity of pepper is consumed in hot countries
than in Europe, the inhabitants of warm
climates being very fond of highly seasoned
dishes. The quantity imported into England,
in 18-18, was 8,125,158 pounds, of which
3,189,313 pounds were retained for home
consumption, 4,385,030 pounds being again
shipped for the continent, etc. The produce
of the pepper countries is thus stated by Mr.
Crawford : —

Sumatra 28,000,000 pounos.

Islands in the Straits of Malacca . 3,600,000 „

Malay peninsula 3,733,333 „

JJorneo 2,666,667 ,,

Siam 8,000,000 ,,

Malabar 4,000,000 „

Total annual produce 50,000,000 pounds.

In the Asiatic Archipelago, also, the nettle
tribe assumes its most pernicious character.
One species of nettle, (Urtica stirmdans^) a
native of Java, has so virulent a sting, that it

70

TIU: GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

occasions not only pain, but illness, which lasts
for days. Another speciec, (^Urtica urentissirna,')
growing in the island of Timor, and called by
the natives “ Devil’s leaf,” is so poisonous, that
its sting produces long illness, its cfl'ects last-
ing for a whole year, and sometimes even
death is the result. Leschenault de la Tour
thus describes the effect of gathering Urtica
crenulata, at Calcutta : “ One of the leaves
slightly touched the first three fingers of my
left hand ; at the time 1 only perceived a slight
pricking, to which I paid no attention. The
pain continued to increase ; in an hour it had
become intolerable ; it seemed as if some one
were rubbing my fingers with a hot iron.
Nevertheless no inffammatory pustule, or swell-
ing, Avas to be seen. The pain spretid rapidly
along the arm, as far as the arm-pit. 1 Avas
then seized Avith frequent sneezing, and a co-
pious running from the nose, as if I had caught
a violent cold. About noon I experienced a
paiiAful contraction at the back of the Jraa's,
Avhich made me fear an attack of tetanus. I
then Aveut to bed, hoping that repose Avould
alleviate my SAiffering, but it did not abate •,
on the contrary, it continued nearly the Avhole
of the folloAving night, but I lost the contrac-
tion of the jaAvs about seA’^en in the evening.
Ihe next morning the pain began to leave me,
and I fell asleep. I continued to suiTer for tAvo
days, and the pain returned in full force Avheh
1 put my hand into Avater. I did not finally
lose it for nine days.” A similar circumstance

TUE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. '

71

occurred, with precisely the same symptoms,
to a workman in the Calcutta Botanic Garden.
This man described the sensation, -when water
was applied to the stung part, to be as if boil-
ing water had been poured over him.

The celebrated upas also inhabits the w'oods
and forests of this portion of our globe. It was
formerly supposed that no one could approach
it without the most imminent danger ot death,
from its poisonous exhalations. This is now,
however, to be classed among popular errors ;
still, the juice is a most virulent poison, one of
the most deadly known ; and it is even possible
tliat at certain seasons, and especially during
the night, its exhalations may be of a noxious
character, like those of the West Indian man-
chineel tree, which is known to be highly
injurious, and is said to have been even fatal
to those who venture to sleep beneath its shade.
The poisonous character of the upas is said to
be owing to the presence of that most deadly
substance, strychnia. Linen made from its
tough fibres, if insufficiently prepared, is so
^crid as to excite the most distressing itching.

It is a singular fact, that this virulent plant
is very nearly allied, in its botanical chaiacter,
to the useful and delicious breadfruit. Java
also contains another plant, {Strychnos tieut^,)
from the bark of the root of which a frightfid
poison is prepared by the natives, who call it
tjettek and upas radja ; it is exceedingly viru-
lent, and probably owes its deadly nature to
strychnia. All the species of strychnos appear

72 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS,

to be very poisonous, except one, S. potatorum,
the fruit of which is called the “ clearing nut,”
and is sold in every market in India to clear
muddy water. The natives never drink clear
well water if they can get pond or river water,
which is always more or less impure, according
to circumstances. One of the seeds is well
rubbed round the inside of the vessel, generally
an un glazed earthen one, containing the w'ater,
which is then left to settle ; in a very short
time the impurities fall to the bottom, leaving
the water clear. One of the upas genus
(Antiaris) is used for making sacks in India, by
the following singular process : “ A branch is
cut, corresponding to the length and diameter of
the sack wanted. It is soaked a little, and then
beaten with clubs till the fibre separates from
the wood. This done, the sack formed of the
bark is turned inside out, and pulled down till
the wood is sawn off, with the exception of a
small piece left to form the bottom of the sack.
These sacks are in general- use.”

“ No country is richer than Java in club
mosses {Lycopodmm) and orchideous plants,
which overrun the trees in thousands in the
deep, dark, mountain forests, choked by huge
creeping plants, with an undergroAvtli of gigantic
grasses, througli which not a ray of light pene-
trates. Sir Stamford Raffles describes the
vegetation of Java as ‘ fearful.’ In these forests,
the air is heavily charged with damp and deadly
vapours, never agitated by a breath of wind ;
the soil, of the deepest black vegetable mould.

THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE.

73

always black and clammy, stimulated by the
fervid heat of a tropical sun, produces trees
whose stems are of a spongy texture, from their
rapid growth, loaded with parasites, especially
the orchideous tribe, of which no less than
three hundred species are peculiar to the island.”
Of locopodia more than two hundred species
are found, and the tree ferns form a twentieth
part of the whole vegetation. Fruit and vege-
tables proper for food abound, perhaps more
than in any other part of the world, and no
less than one hundred varieties of rice grow
here.

Ceylon is, as Ave have just mentioned,
the country of cinnamon, and there also grows
a remarkable tree, Taberncemontana dichotoma,
pretended by the sages of that country to be
the forbidden fruit, and they also assert that
paradise was situated in that island. They say
that it may be identified by the fragrance of its
flower, and by its beautiful tempting fruit, still
bearing the marks of the teeth of Eve. Till
the sin Avas committed they pretend the fruit
AA'as delicious, but from that time forward it
became poisonous, as it noAv remains.

Of the flora of that part of Africa Avhich lies
in this zone very little is knoAvn. One more
feature in the equinoctial zone must be noticed
ere Ave leave it. When the atmosphere and soil
are destitute of its proper degree of humidity,
there is a striking change in the relations of
the seasons. In the height of summer, the trees
lose their leaves, and the herbs die, so that the

c 2

74

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

appearance of tlxe vegetable world is the same
as in winter with us. With us the cause is
want of heat — in these regions the cause is
fi'om want of moisture. Some of the American
plains, during the dry seasons, are as desert
as the Lybian wastes, but during the wet
season they are covered with luxuriant grasses
and the smaller acacias.

THE TROPICAL ZONE.

75

CHAPTER III.

The tropical zone — Tree ferns — Ipomsea — Passionflower-
Victoria— Potato — Arrow-root— Dumb-cane— Maiichineel—
Hura— Sandwich Islands— Pandaniis— Pine apple— Banana
—Taro— China— The sub-tropical zone— Succulent plants—
Euphorbias— Fig tribe— I ndia-rubber- Banian— Dracaiiia—
Desert — Papyrus — Egypt — Gourd tribe— Acacia— Balm of
Gileaa— Tamarisk— Henna— Coffee— The Laud of Promise
-Date palm— Lily— Cedar— Olive— Pomegranate— Carob—
Myrtle — India— Teak tree — Castor oil— Lemon grass —
Spikenard-Cotton— Himalayas— China— Tea— nice —Aus-
tralia—Acacias — Eucalyptus — Epacris— Grass tree— South
Africa— Proteas —Heaths — Geraniums — M imosa — Aloe —
Cycas — House-leek tribe — Deserts — North America — To-
bacco—Mexico— Agave— Furcrsea— South America— Cactus.

The Tropical Zone extends from 15® n. or 6.
Jilt, to the tropics respectively, and has an
average temperature of from 73° to 80° Falir.
The principal countries embraced by this zone
are, parts of Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, in
South America; the majority of the West
India Islands, Yucatan, Guatemala, and part of
hlexico ; Nubia and Senegambia, in Africa ;
Madagascar, Mauritius, and North Australia ;
parts of China and India, Burmah, and the
south of Arabia. A considerable part of the
countries within this zone lies under such con-
ditions, that, from want of sufficient moisture,
and from having too poor a soil, they are des-

76 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

titute of almost all the beauties of tropical
vegetation. Many of the features we have
described under the last zone are common to
this also, especially where the moisture, etc., is
such as to admit of the development of vegeta-
tion to the extent the climate will allow. In
some portions of the zone, especially the south-
ern, palms, bananas, mangroves, orchideaceous
parasites, and rope-like climbers, also are found.
Tree ferns, and plants allied to the convolvulus
and pepper tribe, are some of its most striking
features.

The tree ferns frequently have a stem forty
or forty-five feet high, and bearing at the top
a beautiful crown of those peculiarly graceful
leaves for which the ferns are so remarkable.
Some species have trunks no thicker than three
inches in diameter, but twenty to twenty-eight
feet high, with a crown of fronds, each eight or
nine feet long, of the most elegant and feathery
form, and from their extraordinary delicacy
put into tremulous motion by the gentlest wind.
It will thus be seen that they bear a consi-
derable external resemblance to the palms ;
and, in fact, so close is the similarity of the
stems, that a number of fossil trunks, which
have been discovered in the quarries of our
more northerly regions, and which were con-
sidered as palms, have been proved by later
investigations to belong almost exclusively to
tree ferns and cycadeaj.

The tree ferns chiefly prefer moist, and espe-
cially island situations. On some of the East

THE TROPICAL ZONE.

77

India Islands they grow in such numbers, that
their stems are as close to one another as the
slender firs and pines in our plantations. In
Australia and New Zealand they abound. In
that part of this zone which lies in South
America several interesting plants claim our
attention. One of the most beautiful is the
genus IpomcBa, a vast number of species of
which abound, especially in the woods, and
with their large and beautiful flowers, like those
of the convolvulus, of every variety of crimson,
scarlet, purple, violet, and other rich colours,
and their twining stems, forming rich festoons
from the trees and bushes, exhibit a most
gorgeous picture to the eye of the traveller.
One of the species yields the drug jalap ;
another {Ipomcea tiiberosa) is in Jamaica an
evergreen plant, and as it will grow to an enor-
mous length, (three hundred feet,) and is pro-
fusely clothed with leaves and handsome yellow
fragrant flowers, it is often trained over lattice-
work and arbours, giving a delightful shade
and a refreshing perfume.

The passion flower is another plant of which
numerous species inhabit South America and the
West Indies. In this, their native soil, they are
far larger than in our country, and very fragrant,
and climbing to the top of the highest trees,
(some of which are one hundred and fifty feet
high,) they twine about the branches, and clasp
them with their tendrils, while their blossoms, of
every shade of blue, red, white, or purple, hang
in profusion from them. The name of passion

78 THE GEOGUAPIIY OF PLANTS.

flower was given it by the Spaniards, wlio
found it in all its beauty when they discovered
America, and flincied they belield in the flower
the nails, the hammer, the rays of glory, the
number of the apostles — an emblem, in fact, of
our Saviour’s crucifixion, and .an assuritnce of
conquest, as they imagined, in the name of
religion. But how remote their conduct was
from the spirit of Him in whom they professed
to believe, and whom they professed to follow,
let the history of the conquest of South America
tell ! More anxious to subjugate the Indians,
to acquire their riches, and to force upon them
the principles of Popery, than to manifest the
spirit of Christ, “ the very men who beheld in
a flower of the forest an emblem of His love —
an emblem for faith to rest upon — carried
misery wherever they raised their standard.”
Seventy-six species of passion flower inhabit
tropical South America, and about thirty species
are found in the West Indies.

Another beautiful flower, allied to the water
lily of our country, but of far more splendid form
and gigantic dimensions, ( Victoria j'egina,') inha-
bits the waters of South America. Its leaf is
from five to six feet in diameter, and about six-
teen feet in circumference, salver-shaped, and
with a rim from three to five inches high rising
from its edge, green within and crimson outside.
The flower is of a proportionate size, the ex-
panded c.'dyx being often nearly six feet id
circumference ; this contains several hundred
petals, the outer ones being white, and the

THE TROPICAL ZONE.

79

inner pink, with every intermediate shade in
those between, and exhaling a delicious per-
fume.

The potato appears to have its indigenous
country in the Cordilleras of South America, and
possibly in Virginia also ; but it has been now
so generally cultivated in both places for so
many centuries, that it is very difficult now to
speak with certainty as to its native habitat.
It still seems indigenous in Chili and Peru,
where it is a native of the sea-strand, and is never
found naturally more than four hundred feet
above its level. In its wild state the root is
small and bitter, and the stem becomes woody
and bristly from age. This is one of the many
instances in which cultivation has rendered
some of the most unpromising plants useful to
man. It appears that it was introduced into
Europe by the Spaniards from Quito, early in
the sixteenth century ; but not into our own
country till 1586, when it was brought from
Virginia by sir Walter Raleigh. It was not,
however, till more than one hundred years after
its first introduction that it came into anything
like general cultivation, and nearly one hun-
dred years more elapsed before much attention
was paid to its varieties, or a large extent of
ground employed in its cultivation. A great
degree of reluctance seems to have been felt by
the common people to cultivate this useful
vegetable. Frederick the Great even compelled
the Pomeranians to accept the benefit. It does
not succeed in cultivation in the plains of the

80 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

tori'id zone, though it Avill grow on the Andes at
from 9,800 to 13,000 feet above the level of the
sea, nor will it grow further north than Iceland.

In the West Indies, the arrow-root plant
(^Maranta at'undinacea) is cultivated to a great
extent, but it is a native of equinoctial South
America. The best is brought from the Ber-
mudas, in the sub-tropical zone, 32° N. lut., but
large quantities are also imported from St.
Vincent’s. The South Sea arrow-root, which the
late rev. J. Williams first introduced into this
country, is the produce of a tuberous-rooted plant
of quite a different character, (Taccapmnai/^'Ja.)
The arrow-root, as used in England, is the
farina or starch obtained from the root, by
washing the rasped or pounded tubers in water.
It is said to owe its name to the belief of its
being an antidote to the poison of the arrows
of the Indians. Sugar, which is the principal
produce of the West India Islands, we have
described under the equinoctial zone. Pimento,
or allspice, is the only spice which occurs
naturally in the West Indies, and it is remark-
able, that though not a single plant has been
raised b}' sowing the seed, yet self-sown it mul-
tiplies exceedingly.

In these islands also is found the dumb-carie,
{Dieffenbachia seguina,) one of the arum tribe.
It grows to the height of a man, and has the
property, when chewed, of causing the tongue to
swell, and thus destroying the power of speech.
Hooker relates an account of a gardener, Avho
incautiously bit a piece of the dumb-cane, wheu

THE TIiOFICAL ZONE.

81

his tongue swelled to such a degree that he
could not move it ; he became utterly incapable
of speaking, and was confined to the house for
some days in the most excruciating torments.
Another extremely venomous West Indian plant
is Isotoma longiflora, a lobeliaceous plant ; the
Spanish Americans call it Prehenta caballos, be-
cause it proves fatal to horses that eat it, causing
them to swell until they burst ; taken internally
it acts as a violent cathartic, the effects of which
no remedy can assuage, and which end in death ;
the leaves make a powerful blister.

The manchineel tree {Hippomane mancviella)
is a native of these islands, and has been already
alluded to. It is extremely poisonous, and the
juice when applied to the skin produces cor-
roding ulcers. It has been stated on good
authority, that if a person takes refuge under
one of these trees from a shower of rain, the
droppings become charged with its exudations,
and produce troublesome sores on any part of
the skin which they may touch. The fruit is
very beautiful, and looks like an apple, but is
filled with a juice similar to that of the tree, but
milder ; the burning that it causes in the lips
of those that bite it, guards the careless from
the dangers of eating.

Htira crepitans, the sand-box tree, a tree of the
spurge tribe, has also a very poisonous juice, vio-
lently purgative, and if it gets into the eyes pro-
duces blindness, with intolerable pain. Its seeds
are said to have been administered to negro
slaves, in doses of one or two, as purgatives, but

82 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

with fatal consequences. Its capsule has the
curious property, when quite ripe, of bursting
with a loud report like a pistol, scattering the
seeds with great force ; many of our native eu-
phorbias exliibit the same property in a slight
degree, as may easily be observed by gathering a
few of the riper capsules, and spreading them on
a paper in a dry -warm place. It is a native of
Jamaica. The inner bark of Lagetta lintearia
is the beautiful lace bark, so called because
when macerated and stretched laterally, it
assumes the appearance of coarse lace ; twisted
and knotted, it was formerly employed in
making the slave whips used by negro drivers.

In the thick woods of the Sandwich Islands,
an endless mass of tree ferns, screw pines, (Pan-
danus,) and others, are so closely interwoven by
the variotis species of ipomaja, that all the
climbing-plants must be torn down in order to
force a path. In some parts, the screw pines,
and plants of the pine apple tribe, (Ananas,)
appear in great numbers ; “ they climb up the
trunks of the trees, and surround them with
hundreds of branches, so that their foliage is
impenetrable, and the traveller must pursue
his journey upon this matting of vegetation ; at
last he Avalks, w'ithout perceiving it, at a height
of eight or ten feet above the surface of the
earth, and it is only where he reaches a fissure
in this mountain of plants that he can suiwey
the enormous mass.” The pandanus, or screw
pine, has a singular appearance ; it has long,
narrow, shining green leaves, which grow

THE TROPICAL ZONE.

83

in spiral lines round the tall stems, and cover
them to the top. Some of these are upright,
others climbing plants, and are never branched
except when very old. Some very singular
species of pandanus have their trunks covered
with roots, which descend to the ground like
tightly -drawn cords, and support the main
trunk. One species (^Pandanus odoratissimus)
is very common in the South Sea Islands ; its
flowers are of such delightful fragrance, that it
is often cultivated in Egypt and Arabia for
their sake. Its fruit reaches the size of a
child’s head, and much resembles the pine
apple. The pine apple tribe arc especially
luxuriant in this, as well as in the equatorial
zone. The pine apple, which is cultivated in
our hot-houses, is found wild in abundance in
the hlolucca Islands, and in many parts both
of Asia and America. In Surinam, Brazil, and
the Indies, it is used for inclosing the fields,
and forms thick hedges, while its sharp -edged
and toothed leaves effectually keep out all ani-
mals. It was first cultivated in England at the
end of the seventeenth century, but so successful
have been the efforts to improve its cultivation,
that the fruit grown in England is more prized
than that cultivated abroad.

The multitude of islands, termed Polynesia,
form a botanical district by themselves. Com-
posite, or syngenesious plants, with tree ferns,
constitute the principal portion of the vegeta-
tion. Ferns arc so numerous that there is one
species of them for every three or four flower-

84 THE OEoaitAPiir of plants,

ing plants, while in tropical Australia and
India the proportion is as one to twenty-six.
The cocoa-nut abounds ; the bread fruit, of
which fifty varieties are indigenous, yields
three or four crops annually. The banana,
{^Mma paradisaica,) w'ith several allied species
and varieties, is plentiful throughout the
islands ; an acre of ground, planted with ba-
nanas, will produce one hundred and thirty-
three times as much food as if planted with
wheat, and forty-four times as much as with
potatoes. Still, as the banana is not so nutri-
tious as these, it will not suflice to support so
many individuals as would appear at first from
these statements. Humboldt calculates that a
banana plantation will support about twenty-
five times as many individuals as the same
extent of ground sown with wheat. Perhaps
there is no other plant whose produce is so im-
mense. It is to the inhabitants of some tropical
countries what wheat, barley, and rye, are to
the inhabitants of Europe and Western Asia,
and wdiat the numerous varieties of rice are to
those of the countries beyond the Indus. The
labour of cultivating it is very slight, and its
growth very rapid, wdiile it flowers and bears fruit
through the whole year. Humboldt remarks,
that a European traveller, newdy arrived in the
torrid zone, is struck Avith nothing so much as
the extreme smallness of the spots under culti-
vation round a cabin which contains a numer-
ous family of Indians, Thirty-six good-sized
fruits are sufficient to support a man entirely for

THE TROPICAL ZONE.

85

a week, and they are eaten either fresh or dried.
A single cluster of bananas, produced upon a
single plant, often contains from one hundred
and sixty to one hundred and eighty fruits,
weighing altogether from seventy to eighty
pounds. Yet this facility with which food can
be procured has doubtless contributed to retard
the progress of improvement in tropical regions,
while the necessity of the European has called
forth his industry ; and that, under his colder
skies and less fertile soil, has surrounded him
with all the blessings of society, its comforts,
its affections, and its intellectual riches.

The taro plant (Colocasia macroi'hiza, or
Arum esculenturn of former botanists,) is one of
the most valuable of the productions of the
South Sea Islands. It belongs to the arum
tribe, and is culfivated for the sake of its roots,
which afford an excellent and nutritious food,
and are eaten either roasted or boiled. They
require a low and wet ground, abundantly sup-
plied with water, and are planted a yard apart,
to allow full room for the growth of their
tubers. They ai’e fit for use in six months
after being planted, but are much improved by
being permitted to remain in the ground a year.
In that portion of China which lies in this zone,
the Chinese pine forms woods as extensive as
the common pine with us and in the north of
Europe, and contrasts strikingly with the airy
groves of the bamboos and arborescent grasses.
In Madagascar Tanghinia venenifera occurs,
which is one of the most active and virulent

86 THE GEOCnAPIlY OF PLANTS.

of known poisons. The kernel of the fruit,
though not larger than an almond, is suffi-
cient to destroy twenty people. It was used
in Madagascar as an ordeal, but is now discon-
tinued.

3. The Sub-tropical Zone extends from the
tropics to 34° N. or s. hit. Its mean tempera-
ture is from 62° to 69° Fahr., and with an
average summer heat of from 73° to 82°. Its
climate is one of the most delightful on the
globe, and many of the tropical fruits, with
many plants which properly belong to the equi-
noctial zone, are found in it, while the winters
are so mild that man scarcely needs the sub-
stantial dwellings of colder climes. It embraces
the north of Africa, including the Great
Desert, Morocco, Barbary, Algiers, Tunis, Tri-
poli, and Egypt ; in Asia, Palestine, Syria, the
north of Arabia, Persia, Cabul, Beloochistan,
Thibet, the north of India and China ; the
southern part of Australia ; South Africa ;
Paraguay, La Plata, Chili, Banda, in South
America ; the Bahamas, Bermudas, klexico,
Texas, the Southern States, and California, in
North America. The vegetation of this zone is
very interesting and very important. Like the
damper regions of the tropical zone, the plants
are green all the year round. A number of
succulent plants, of the house -leek, stone-
crop, Mesemhryanthemum, and other tribes, are
distinguishing features of this zone, especially
in Africa, hlany of them have beautiful
flowers, while their thick, succulent leaves, with

TUE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

87

few pores, defend the juices of the plants from
the rapid evaporation which would otherwise
be caused by the powerful rays of the sun.

The ice plant is a well-known example of this
kind of plants, some few species of which are
found in our climate, for example, the common
' liouse-leek. In the Island of ^Madeira, thei-e is a
species of house-leek, which attains the form and
character of a tree. But some of the most
remarkable and peculiar plants of this zone
ai’e the large and even tree-like euphorbias,
(Spurges,) which, with their angular, succulent
stems, seem to imitate the cactuses of America.
These plants, which are very various in form,
are generally of the most acrid and poisonous
nature, though some are possessed of exactly
opposite qualities, and are both innoxious and
nutritious. The number of species of euphor-
bia and its allied genera, is said to be two
thousand five hundred ; by far the greater part
of which are tropical, or sub-tropical, and very
few inhabit colder regions. It is believed that
* fully half of the tropical species belong to
America. Euphorbia balsamifera is a native of
the Canary Islands, the milk of which is so in-
noxious and sweet, that it is thickened to jelly,
and eaten by the inhabitants. The cordon,
(Euphorbia Canariensis,) another denizen of the
Canaries, whose juice is as acrid as that of
many of the other euphorbias, is a very singular
plant. Its dark green, prismatic branches, six
inches in circumference, completely leafless,
and edged with pairs of short prickles, rise all

88 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

at once from a common root, bend do^vn in
a semicircle to the ground, and then rise
again perpendicularly at various distances from
the first root, so that the tree resembles an
enormous lustre, Avith a number of branches
bearing lights. At the extremity of these
thick, fleshy branches, break forth the scarlet
flowers, which, at a distance, are like burning
coals. In Africa and Asia, the leafless thorny
euphorbias are often planted for fences, and
they serve most eifectually to keep out in-
truders, injuring those who attempt to pass, not
only by their sharp spines, but by the poison-
ous juices they instil into the wounds made by
them. To this zone belong also many of the
fig tribe.

The common fig is the produce of Ficns
carica, and the Avholesomeness of the fruit is
remarkable, inasmuch as the juice of the tree
itself is very acrid. 22,768 cwts. of figs were
imported into this country in 1848, chiefly
from Turkey and the Levant. The fig seems
to have been to the natives of the east in
former days, what the banana is to the Indian
tribes of South America at this day. With
little trouble of cultivation, and Avhether fresh or
dried, it supplied their principal necessities, and
its failure was considered by the Jews a most
grievous calamity. “ Although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and
the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall
be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no

THE SUB-TROnCAL ZONE.

89

herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation,”
is language expressive of the firm confidence in
God which the prophet entertained, amidst the
most terrible famine, and the greatest earthly
calamities.

In Egypt and Palestine groAvs the sycamore
of Scripture, which is not the same tree as the
one known by that name in this country. The
latter is a species of maple — the sycamore of
Palestine is a species of fig, (Ficus sycomoriis.)
It is a Avide-spreading tree, fifty or sixty feet
high, Avith a trunk often of such thickness that
three men cannot embrace it. Probably our
Saviour had such a tree before him Avhen he
said, “ If ye had faith as a grain of mustard
seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be
thou plucked up by the root, and be thou
planted in the sea ; and it should obey you,”
Luke xvii. 6. Its vigorous branches and beau-
tiful evergreen foliage afford a delightful shade,
while its fruit seems to haA’-e been an important
article of food in Egypt and Palestine, and is
still used to a considerable extent. Its import-
ance is noticed in Psalm Ixxviii. 47, “ Me de-
stroyed their vines Avith hail, and their sycamore
trees A\fith frost,” evidently implying a heavy
calamity. The loAver classes in Egypt at thi.s
day think themselves Avell regaled Avhen they
have a piece of bread, a cotiple of sycamore figs,
and a jug of AA'ater from the Nile. The prophet
Amos, Ave are told by himself, Avas a “ gatherer
of sycamore fruit,” Amos vii. 14. Its abun

90

TIIE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

dance in ancient Palestine is alluded to in
1 Kings X. 27, “ And the king (Solomon) made
. . . cedars to be as the sycamore trees that
are in the vale, for abundance.”

The valuable substance. India-rubber, now
so extensh’’ely emplo3'ed in the manufactures of
this country, is furnished by many species of
fig in great abundance. All that is imported
from India is the produce of Ficus elastica, and
various Javanese and American species yield it
freely. It is obtained by making incisions into
the tree, and collecting the sap as it flows ;
when hardened by exposure to the air it forms
caoutchouc, or India-rubber. It has of late
years been very extensively and increasingly
used in this countiy, and especially since the
discovery of certain liquids which will dissolve
it, so that it may be applied in the manner
of varnish, from which, wdien spread lightly
over any substance, the dissolving liquid being
ver}^ volatile, evaporates, and leaves a very thin
film of caoutchouc behind. In this manner the
waterproof cloths and fabrics are made, which
are now so largely used. Some idea may be
formed of the rapidly increasing consumption of
this article from the fact, that in 1830 the
quantity iin2:)orted into England was 52,000
pounds ; in 1833, 180,000 pounds ; while in
1847, 059,568 pounds were imported. Some
species of fig, as the banyan, (Ficus Indica,)
send off shoots from their long horizontal
branches, w'hich descend to the earth, and there
taking root, become subsidiary trunks, which

THE SUB-TROriCAL ZONE. 91

at lengtli often become as portly as the parent
stem. Milton beautifully describes it —

“ Tlie fig tree, not that kind for fruit renownwl,

Hat su( ]i os at this day, to Indians known.

In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms,

Branching so broad and long, that in the gi'onnd
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade.

High over-arch’d, and echoing walks between :

There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,

Shelters in cool, and tends his jjasturing herds
At loop holes cut through thickest shade.”

There is a tree of it on the banks of the
Nerbudda, in the province of Guzerat, with
350 main stems, occupying an area of 2,000
feet, independently of the branches, which ex-
tend much further. The number of smaller
stems amounted to more than 3,000, and are
continually casting out new branches and hang-
ing roots. It is estimated that 7,000 persons
might find ample rooln beneath its shade —

A sylvan temple, arch’d aloof

With airy aisles and living colonnades

Where nations might have worshipp’d God in peace.

INIr. lieinwardt saw in the Island of Simao
a large wood of I^icus Benjamina, which had
sprung from one stem. Milton supposes the
leaves of the banyan to have been the lig leaves
with which our hrst parents clothed themselves
after the fall. The tenacity of life in some
species of fig is very remarkable. A specimen
of Ficus Aiistmlis lived, and grow suspended in
the air without earth, in one of the hot-houses
in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, for eight
mouths, without apparently experiencing any
inconvenience. The whole tribe of fig trees,

92 THE GEOGRAPHY OP PLANTS.

indeed, including many more species than those
W'e have briefly noticed, is one of the most
marked peculiarities of a tropical scene.

The Canary Islands are celebrated for a very
remarkable tree, the dragon’s blood, (Di'acccua
draco.) One of these trees, at the Villa Ora-
tava, in Teneriffe, has been stated to be between
seventy and seventy-fiv^e feet high, and forty-six
and a half feet in circumference at the base ; it
was a very ancient tree in the year 1402, and
is still alive and productive. It yields a deep
red resin, called dragon’s blood ; but the sub-
stance sold in our shops under that name
is the produce of some palms, of the genus
Calamus.

In the north of Africa, we find the great
Desert of Sahara, which occupies a large por-
tion of the sub-tropical part of that continent.
Of course, on the desert itself we do not expect
to discover any trace of vegetation ; except that
here .and there, where a spring arises, a spot of
verdure is seen, called an oasis ; here palms,
acaciirs, and other prickly plants, are found.
On the borders of the desert, at the base of the
Atlas range, the date palm forms large forests,
nourished by the moisture which descends from
the mountains, and affords food to the inha-
bitants, and shelter to crops which could not
otherwise grow ; for the drought on the borders
of the desert is so excessive, that no other trees
can resist it, rain hardly ever falls, and the
scorching blasts from the south speedily dry up
any moisture th.at m.ay exist. The desert has

THE SUB-TUOI’ICAL ZONE.

93

greatly extended its boundaries within the
limits of history ; considerable portions of
Egypt, which were once covered with a rich
vegetation, and studded with populous cities,
are now sandy wastes, and cities, temples,
and palaces, ai’e buried beneath the sands —
while it bids fair to overwhelm still more and
more of that ancient and fertile country. But
we must look a little at the vegetation of this
part of the world.

The papyrus is one of the most interesting
plants of Egypt, having been used by the
ancients as a material for writing upon long
before the invention of paper. Our word
“ paper” is, indeed, derived from the name and
use of this plant. It is one of the sedge tribe,
{^Cypevacece) inhabiting stagnant pools and lakes,
though sometimes found in rapid streams. The
stems were the part used by the ancients, and
their thin plates of cellular tissue were united
by moistening and pressing them together, so as
to form a sheet, their substance being of so
adhesive a nature as to require no other cement.
Sheets of large size were thus formed. Belzoni
had one twenty-three feet long by eighteen
inches broad. Large quantities were exported
to Greece and Rome, where it was the only
material used for writings intended to be pre-
served, until the invention of parchment,
B.c. 250. Papyrus, however, still continued to
be in demand till the invasion of Egypt by the
Saracens, in the seventh century, when parch-
ment was generally substituted for it.

94

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

The quantity made by the ancient Egyptians
must have been very great, judging by the
number of rolls often foiind in the tombs and
mummy cases. In the muserim of Naples, there
are nearly one thoiasand eight hundred mss.
of this description, which have been dug out of
a small part of the city of Herculaneum, whence
the number that must have existed in the
Homan empire at that time may in some degree
be imagined. The papyrus is doubtless the
plant alluded to in Scripture as the bulrush,
of which the ark was made for the infant IVIoses,
(Exod. ii. 3,) and also the vessels of bulrushes in
which men sailed, (Isa. xviii. 2.) Pliny notices
“ ships made of papyrus and in another place
he says, “ of the papyrus itself they construct
sailing-vessels.”

It is singiilar that, even at the present day,
the leaves of the date palm are used to form
a sailing-vessel, which is much employed in
crossing the Tigris. They are woven into a
kind of basket-work, and are thickl)'^ coated
with bitumen to render them water-proof.
Egypt was once celebrated as the granary of
Europe, and was the most fertile country in the
Avorkl. In Gen. xli. 47, it is said, that during
the seven years of plenty, “ the earth brought
forth by handfuls,” that is, probably, each
stalk produced as much as the hand could
grasp. Such productiveness, or even more, is
not unusual at this day. l\Ir. Jowett pulled,
at random, a few plants from a corn-field
in Egypt, to ascertain how many stems grew

THE 3UB-TK0PICAL ZONE.

95

from one grain of wheat. The first had
seven stalks, the next three, the third eighteen,
the fourth fourteen. Each stalk bore an ear.
It often happens that one stalk will bear two
ears, while each of these ears will branch out
into a number of lesser ones, thus aftbrding a
plentiful increase. Egypt is indebted for its
fertility to a system of artificial irrigation, esta-
blished in the times of its ancient prosperity.
To the same cause the plain of Lombardy
formerly owed its richness, and its inhabitants
their opulence, and we may add, their liberty,
when the nations of Europe were immersed in
ignorance and barbarism.

- The cucumber and the gourd have been cul-
tivated in Egypt from the earliest times. “ We
remember,” said the Israelites in the wilderness,
“ the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the
onions, and the garlic,” Num. xi. 5 ; and these
cooling vegetables, the water melon particularly,
still form the great part of the food of the lower
class of the people in Egypt during the summer
months. “ A traveller in the east, who recol-
lects the intense gratitude which the gift of a
slice of melon inspired while journeying over
the hot and dry plains, or one who remembers
the consciousness of Avealth £uid security which
he derived from the possession of a melon, Avhile
prepared for a day’s journey over tlie same
plains — he will readily comprehend the regi’et
with which the llebreAvs in the Arabian desert
looked back upon the melons of Egypt.” Garlic

96

THE GEOGRAPHT OF PLANTS.

and onions have been esteemed in Egypt from
very early times ; and Hasselquist shows, that
there is good reason for the superior value there
set on them. “ Whoever,” he says, “ has tasted
onions in Egypt, will allow that none better are
to be had in any part of the universe. Here
they are sweet, in other countries they are
nauseous and strong ; here they are soft,
whereas in the northern and other parts they
are hard. Hence they cannot in any place be
eaten with less prejudice and more satisfaction
than in Egypt.”

ISIost of the people of western Asia are re-
markably fond of onions, and the Arabs are
passionately so. The garlic of Egypt was for-
merly much esteemed ; Dioscorides says, that
garlic anciently grew very plentifully in Egypt ;
and Herodotus tells us, that in his time there
was an inscription on the great pyramid, re-
cording the expense of the onions, radishes, and
garlic, which had been consumed by the work-
men during the progress of the undertaking.
The cucumber of Egypt is far less apt to dis-
agree with the stomach than those grown in
England ; indeed, when in season, they are
eaten by all classes to an extent which would
scarcely seem credible in this country. In Syria,
the cucumber was cultivated in open fields, far
from the habitations of men ; and here a hut
was erected for the watchman, who guarded the
fruit from foxes and jackals. Bishop Heber
saw in India a man in a small shed of bamboo
and thatch, thus watching a field of cucumbers.

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

97

The language of Isaiah recurred to his mind,
•when, speaking of the desolation of Judah, he
says, “ The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage
, in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucum-
I bers.” But the force and truth of the figure
j were still more strikingly seen, when, a short
time after, returning the same way, the crop
was gathered, the hut destroyed, the bamboos
lying in every direction, the thatch scattered,
and all was desolation and destruction. In
Egypt, the doum and date palms abound ; these
we shall notice again presently.

I In Arabia, we find the colocynth, a plant of
I the melon tribe, inhabiting also the Levant.
It is, however, a very active purgative, 'and is
much used at the present day in medicine.
The wild vine, producing the poisonous gourds
spoken of in 2 Kings iv. 38 — 41, and which,
while occasioning the alarming cry, “ O thou
man of God, there is death in the pot,” gave
opportunity for the miracle performed by
Elisha, is supposed to have been this plant.

1 A still more active plant is the Momordica
j elateriwn, or squirting cucumber, the dried
juice of which is one of the most violent pur-
gatives known, a few grains having destroyed
life. It is, however, useful in dropsy, but one-
eighth of a grain is a sufficient dose. It is
probably the “ vine of Sodom,” spoken of in
Dent, xxxli. 32. A species of luffa, a South
American cucurbitaceous plant, possesses similar
qualities. These all inhabit the same latitudes
as the cucumber, gourd, etc. Arabia is also

98 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

the country of gums and balsams, a large num-
ber of its plants and trees abounding in such
exudations. Gum arabic is obtained in large
quantities from Acacia vera and A^ arabica.
The best and whitest comes from the last-
named species. It is gathered in vast quanti-
ties from the trees growing in Arabia Petrsea,
near the foot of Mount Sinai ; and is so nutri-
tious, that the Moors who collect it live almost
entirely upon it during the whole of the gum
harvest, which lasts five weeks, and the subse-
quent journey of transport. Gum Senegal, an
inferior kind of gum arabic, is the produce of
Acacia Senegal, a tree which inhabits Arabia
and the interior of Africa, and sometimes forms
large forests. In 1839, 15,628 cwt. of gum
arabic, and 24,698 cwd. of gum Senegal, were
imported into this country. Several other
species of mimosa and acacia also inhabit Arabia.

The balm of Mecca is the produce of a tree
growing between IMecca and Medina, (Balsamo-
dendron opobalsamum,) and the balm of Gilead
of another species of the same genus, (B.
Gileadense,) also a native of Arabia. The balm
of Gilead was held in very high estimation in
the most ancient times, as a medicine and cos-
metic. The Ishmaelites carrying Arabian
commodities into Egypt, made it part of their
merchandise, (Gen. xxxvii. 25 ;) and it Avas
among the presents Avhich Jacob sent to
Joseph while ruler of Egypt, (Gen. xliii.
11.) The value which Avas set upon it as
a healing medicine of extraordinary virtue.

THE SUB-TUOPICAL ZONE.

99

may be seen from the mention of it by the
prophet : “ Is there no balm in Gilead ; is

there no physician there ? why then is not
the health of the daughter of my people re-
covered ?” Jer. viii. 22 ; “ Go up into Gilead,
and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of
Egypt : in vain shalt thou use many medi-
cines ; for thou shalt not be cured,” Jer.
xlvi. J 1 ; “ Take balm for her pain, if so be she
may be liealed,” Jer. li. 8. According to Pliny
and Justin, it was anciently so abundant in the
vale of Jericho, that there were whole parks of
balsam trees there ; and we know from Scrip-
ture that it grew in Gilead, on the Syrian side
of the Jordan. Now, however, it has totally
disappeared from Palestine, and is only to be
found in Arabia, which seems to be its native
country. It is procured by incision in the tree,
but the quantity collected is very small. The
large park in the vale of Jericho only yielded
six gallons in the most plentiful year, and it
was formerly sold for double its weight m silver.
It is still esteemed very precious, and is rarely
to be procured genuine, that which is collected
being hardly sufficient for the seraglio and great
officers. It is said to be exceedingly fragrant.

Myrrh is a product of a plant of the same
genus, {^Balsamodendron myrrha,) a tree which
grows in considerable quantity on the borders
of Arabia Felix. The myrrh of Scripture is,
however, not perhaps identical with the gum
we call by that name, but probably is the same
as the balsam of Mecca, or the kataf of the

100

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

Arabians. Tamarisks abound in the deserts of
Arabia, and, with their pretty spikes of small
pink flowers, enliven the gloom of those barren
wastes. One species of tamarisk (T. Gallica)
is commonly cultivated in many of our gardens,
cs])ecially on the coast, and gives a good idea
of the character of the genus. Two species
{Tamarix orientalis and T. passerinoides) grow
in Arabia ; the former is probably the plant
mentioned in Jer. xvii. 6, “For he shall be
like the heath in the desert, and shall not see
when good cometh ; but shall inhabit the
parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land
and not inhabited.” Its spare and neglected
form peering above the sand of the desert,
might well be taken as an emblem of desertion
and solitude.

One of the most cherished plants of
Arabia is the henna, {Laicsonia ineniiis,) a
plant of the loosestrife tribe, which is in
universal estimation for its beauty and sweet
perfume. It is a native of India, Arabia, Per-
sia, Egypt, and Greece, and is not only found
wild, but is universally cultivated. Mohammed,
speaking of this flower, called it “the chief of
the sweet-scented flowers of this world and the
next.” Mr. Lane says, “ I approve of his taste
for this flower, which grows in clusters, some-
what like the lilac, and has most delicious fra-
grance.” The light green foliage, the yellowish
white flowers, and the coral-red flower-stalks,
give an elegant appearance to the shrub. It is
supposed to be the plant alluded to in Solomon’s

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

101

Song i. 14, “A cluster of camphire in the vine-
yards of En-gedi,” which corresponds to the
beautiful long clusters of flowers of the henna,
but by no means to what we call camphor. It
is also alluded to again in the same book,
chap. iv. 13, 14, “ Pomegranates, with pleasant
fruits ; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard
and saffron ; calamus and cinnamon, with all
trees of frankincense ; myrrh and aloes, with
all the chief spices and these are all still
j highly esteemed in the east.

Its blossoms form the favourite bouquet oi
the Grecian females, who delight peculiarly in
flowers, and wear them in profusion about their
persons. The oriental ladies also deck their
sofas and adorn their houses with the rich
blossoms of the henna ; and the Egyptian
females carry them in their hands and place
them in their bosoms, as well as keep them in
their apartments. The aged Mohammedan
frequently perfumes his beard, by holding his
face over the vapour arising from a preparation
of these sweet flowers. This reminds us of the
perfume which, poured upon Aaron’s beard,
was, in its sweetness, compared by the psalmist
to the delights of fraternal affection. In Egypt,
the henna flowers are carried about the streets
for sale, and the seller, as he walks, cries, “ Oh,
the odours of paradise : oh, flowers of the
henna.” The rose, which is esteemed the
queen of flowers, is even considered by the
j orientals inferior to the henna. The dried
I leaves of the plant are used by eastern females

102 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

to impart a pink dye to their nails, palms of
their hands, and soles of their feet, and this is
considered a great ornament.

Delicious as is the perfume of the henna,
another Arabian plant, of much less outward
pretensions, has been far more extensively
beneficial in its utility to man ; this is the
coffee shrub, a native of Arabia Felix, and the
table-land of Ethiopia. It derives its name
from the province of Kaffa, where it forms
dense forests. The plant does not seem to have
been known to the Greeks and Komans, nor
are there any facts known as to the origin of
its use in the east. The coffee plant was
brought from hlocha to the Botanic Garden
at Amsterdam, in 1G90 ; and the magistrates of
that city, in 1714, sent a plant of it as a pre-
sent to Louis XIV. From this latter plant the
first coffee plants were introduced into the
West Indies, in 1717, where it has rapidly
spread, and is now extensively cultivated in
Jamaica, Denierara, etc. In 1718, it was in-
troduced by the Dutch into Surinam, from
whence it was quickly diffused over equinoctial
America. It was not known as an article of
diet for many centuries after the introduction
of sugar. The first coffee-house was opened
in England in 1652, and the first in France in
1671. That in England was commenced by
the Greek servant of Daniel Edwards, a Turk-
ish merchant ; his handbill is still extant, in
Avhich he announces “ the virtue of the coffee
drink first publiquely made and sold in Eng-

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 103

land by Pasqua Eosee, in Sfc. Michael’s Alley,
* CJornhill, at the sign of his own head.”

When it is considered that it was made
strong, and drunk without sugar or milk, it
may be believed that it was not much liked ;
one person describing it as being as black
I as soot, and tasting not much unlike it. For
twenty years after its introduction it was the
subject of general invective, both as to medi-
cinal and domestic use. When first intro-
duced into Turkey, it was forbidden by the
government on the ground of its being an
intoxicating beverage 1 and the Mohammedan
priests complained that the people forsook the
mosques, and crowded to the coffee-houses.
Now, however, it has long been a necessary of
life in that country ; so that at one time the
refusal of a husband to supply his wife with a
reasonable quantity of it, was reckoned among
the legal causes for a divorce. When first
introduced into England it was worth four or
five guineas per pound ; but, by degrees, the
consumption increased, till, in 1808, 1,000,000
pounds were imported, the duty being then
two shillings per pound. In 1824, the duty
was lowered to sixpence, when it increased
rapidly ; in 1839, it had reached 27,000,000
pounds, and in 1848, 57,061,431 pounds were
imported. Tlie best coffee is still imported
from Mocha, in Arabia, but very large quanti-
ties are brought from the West Indies, Java,
and Ceylon.

Between the desert of Arabia and the Medi-

104

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

terraneaii is the Land of Promise — a land, as
Moses described it, “ of wheat, and barley,
and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates ;
a land of oil olive, and hone}^,” Deut. viii. 8.
And such it still is proved to be, wherever
the inhabitants, rescued from oppression the
most grinding, are permitted to cultivate their
lands with any fair prospect of reaping in
peace the fruit of their labours. Palms, corn,
pomegranates, figs, cedars, the olive, and a
great variety of interesting plants, characterise
this country ; but w'e must notice them a
little more in detail. Two of the palms are
found in Palestine, and Avere knoAvn to the
Jews — the doum palm, (Crwc(/e?-a thebaica,) and
the date palm, {rhoenix dactylifera.') The_
doum palm is remarkable for its forked
stem, Avhich is divided into two at some height
from the ground, and these branches again
subdivide in a similar manner. It abounds
also in Egypt, Avhere it is called the ginger-
bread tree, from the extreme resemblance of
its brown mealy rind to that article. Its hard
kernels are turned for rosaries.

But the palm, by Avay of eminence, is the
date palm. It is to this probably that the
numerous allusions in Scripture refer. This
palm belongs to the Avestern part of the sub-
tropical zone in the old Avorld, beginning at the
Canary Isles, and embracing Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, and Arabia, in its eastern range. It is
not found spontaneously east of the Indus. It
has been artificially cultiA-ated in India and

THE SUB-TROnCAL ZONE. 105

Batavia, and as far north as Nice. Tlnit part
of Africa called Billedulgerid is literally the
land of dates. It requires a sandy and Avell
watered soil, and in the Great Desert of Africa
is only found near springs. Here it not only
affords food to the traveller, but its leaves
arc excellent fodder for the beasts of burden.
Its presence is an unerring sign of water ;
hence, the weary Israelites found water when
they found palm trees — “ And they came to
Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and
threescore and ten palm trees,” Exod. xv. 27.
The date palm is an example of extraordi-
nary fruitfulness, a single spathe containing
twelve thousand male flowers ; and its fruit,
of which one hundred and fifty to one hun-
dred and sixty pounds’ weight are yielded
by each tree, forms the chief support of the
inhabitants of the barren parts of Arabia and
Egypt.

The palm reaches maturity in about thirty
years, and continues in full vigour about
seventy years longer. It is beautifully applied
in Psa. xcii. 12, 14, “ The righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree : he shall grow like
a cedar in Lebanon. They shall still bring
forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and
flourishing.” It is diaecious, that is, the sta-
men-bearing flowers, (males,) and those con-
taining pistils, (females,) grow on different
plants. Plants of this kind are usually fer-
tilized by the pollen being conveyed from one
flower to the other by insects, the wind, etc.

D 2

106 THE GEOGUAPHY OF PLANTS.

In the date palm, however, these means often
fail, and if unseasonable weather or accident
prevent it, the date crops are entirely ruined.
To prevent this, the Arabs, who have been
acquainted with these facts for ages, gather the
clusters of male flowers, and hang them over
the pistilline ones, and they CA'en lay up stores
of pollen from year to year. In incursions into
hostile territories, the invading army often cuts
down the stamen -bearing palms, as one of the
most severe injuries they can inflict upon their
enemy. It is on record, that the threat of doing
so, on the part of those attacked, once warded off
an inA'asion. The grand seignior having medi-
tated an invasion of the city and territory of
Bassora, the prince of that country prevented
it, by giving out that he would destroy all
these palms on the first approach of the enemy,
and by that means cut off all supply of food
from them during the siege. Most of the in-
habitants of Persia, Arabia, and Egypt, subsist
principally upon its fruit. The harvest of
dates is expected, therefore, and attended with
as general rejoicing as the vintage of the south
of Europe. The crop sometimes fails, or is
destroyed by locusts, and then an -universal
gloom overspreads the population. “ What is
the price of dates at Mecca or Medina?” is
always the first question asked by a Bedouin
who meets a traveller on the road.

That the date palm was anciently very plen-
tiful in Palestine we have abundant proof ;
ancient •nTiters bear testimony to it, and on the

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

107

medals -of no less than four Roman emperors,
Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Trajan, it is
employed as an emblem of the Hebrew nation,
or portions of it ; and the palm tree in Judaja
does still mournfully typify the desolate condi-
tion of the Hebrew people. It was prosper-
ous in their prosperous days, and has become
desolate with their desolation. Palestine is
not now the country of the palm ; Jericho,
anciently called “ the city of palm trees,” has
but few comparatively around it ; and scattered
over the land, two or three palm trees are
rarely seen together. Branches of the palm
were anciently used as symbols of victoiy and
triumph, both among Jews and Gentiles. Thus,
when our Lord rode in triumph into Jeru-
salem, the people “ took branches of palm trees,
and went forth to meet him, and cried. Ho-
sanna!” etc., John xii. 13. So, also, the
redeemed in heaven, in token of their ascrib-
ing victory to Him who conquered sin and
death, are represented as standing “ before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in
their hands.”

But we must hasten to notice some others.
The fields of Palestine are often studded in the
autumn with the Amaryllis lutea, a beautiful
i plant of the lily tribe, resembling our crocus,

I but larger. It sometimes covers whole acres of
ground with its brilliant flowers in September
and October, and is supposed to be the plant
alluded to by our Saviour, when he bade his
disciples “ consider the lilies of the field, how

108

TIIE GEOGUAPHY OF PLANTS.

they grow ; they toil not, neither do they sjiin :
and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon
in all his gloiy was not arrayed like one
of these,” Matt. vi. 28, 29. hlany other
liliaceous plants, of varied form and beautiful
colours, adorn the plains of Palestine and
other tropical countries, often abundant as the
buttei’cups and wild flowers of the meadows of
our native land. A singular plant, called the
rose of Jericho, {A7iastatica Jiierochuntma,) a
plant of the cruciform order, is a native of
Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. When full-
grown it contracts its rigid branches into a ball,
which is easily withdrawn from the sand by
the wind, and hurried from place to place.
But as soon as it is exposed to water the
branches relax and spi'ead flat, as if its life were
renewed, and this will take place after the
plant has been many years dried up. Some
superstitious tales ai'e told of it, among which
it is said to have bloomed on Christmas-eve, to
salute the birth of the Redeemer, and to have
paid homage to his resurrection by remaining
expanded till Easter.

The cedar of Lebanon is peculiar to Pales-
tine, having been found nowhere but on the
mountain whose name it bears. The cedars
are now but few in number. It is, however,
generally considered that the “ cedar" so often
mentioned in Scripture, was not the tree we
now understand by that name, as its timber is
comparatively valueless, and has but little
fragrance. It was, doubtless, some coniferous

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

109

tree, most probably the Junipenis oxycedms;
Theophrastus describes a species of juniper as
bearing the name of “ cedar,” being peculiar
to Syria and Phoenicia, and used for nauti-
cal purposes, thus agreeing with Ezek. xxvii.
5, “ They have taken cedars from Lebanon to
make masts for thee.” Various trees of this
kind inhabit Palestine, some of which afford
excellent timber ; among others, the Scotch fir,
(Pnu/s sylvestns,) and it is believed Pinm la-
ricio, P. halepetisis, and P. orientalis also.

Another remarkable tree is the olive, which
gives its name to Mount Olivet. It is truly an
interesting and curious fact, that during ^
period of little less than three thousand years,
Hebrews, Assyrians, Homans, IMoslems, and
Christians, have been successively in posses-
sion of the rocky mountains of Palestine ;
yet the olive still vindicates its paternal soil,
and it is found at this day upon the same
spot which was called by the Hebrew writers
the Mount of Olives, 1100 years before the
Christian era. The wood of the olive is beau-
tifully veined, it takes a high polish, and
having an agreeable smell, is much esteemed
for ornamental work. The appearance of the
tree is not unlike that of our willows, but the
fruit, which is its chief value, is like a damson
to the eye, with a soft oily pulp, and a hard
stone in the centre. From this fruit the oil is
procured by expression, the pulp having been
first ground in a mill. The best oil is obtained
from Italy, Sicily, and Provence, and throughout

110

THE GEOQRAPny OF PLANTS.

the southern countries of Europe it is very exten- ^
sively used, being employed as generally and in
the same way as butter and cream are with us.

The quantity imported into this country in
1848 was 2,518,740 gallons.

There was anciently an enormous consump-
tion of it in Palestine ; it was used, doubt-
less, as it still is in southern Em’ope ; it was
also used in the temple for the lamps, which
were kept burning continually, (Exod. xxvii.

20.) Great, however, as was the consumption,
the produce was so abundant as to leave a con-
siderable quantity for exportation. Solomon
gave 20,000 baths (150,000 gallons) of oil
yearly to the Tyrian hewers of timber in '
Lebanon, (2 Chron. ii. 10,) and, as it would
appear, an equal quantity to the king of Tyre
himself, (1 Kings v. 11.) It appears, too,
that the Jews traded with their oil in the great J
mart of Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 17,) and sent it to 1
Egypt, (Hosea xii. 6.) To this day, the olives J,
and olive oil of Palestine are equal to any in 7
the Levant. Branches of the olive tree were
used as one of the materials of the booths at
the feast of tabernacles, (Neh. viii. 15 ;) and
an olive branch has long been considered the
symbol of peace. The*dove which Noah sent
forth on the abating of the waters of the deluge, 1
returned with an olive leaf plucked off ; the I
hardiness and tenacity of life of this tree, pro- j

bably enabling it to withstand so long an |

immersion in the waters of the flood. The
olive is now cultivated and naturalized over '

THE SUB-TUOPICAL ZONE.

Ill

all the south of Europe, but it appears to have
originally come from Asia, and grows v/ild
abundantly about Aleppo and Lebanon. Its
longevity is great. Some plantations of it in Italy,
as at Terne, are supposed to have existed from
the time of Pliny ; and in Judaea and Galilee,
clumps of several thousand olive trees fre-
quently occur, which are, doubtless, the re-
mains of ancient plantations.

But we must hasten to mention a few other
plants of Palestine. It is an interesting coun-
try in its flora, and deeply so in its associations,
and this must be our excuse for dwelling on it
so long. The cypress grows there, and ap-
pears to be the “gopher wood” of which the
ark was built, (Gen. vi. 14.) Some species of
acacia are also found ; the w'ood of one of which,
{Acacia Jiorrida,) a thorny tree, seems to have
been the “shittim” wood used in constructing
the ark of the testimony, the altar of burnt
offering, the boards of the tabernacles, etc.,
(Exod. XXV. — xxvii.) and deserves the name
given to it by the Greek translators, meaning
“ wood that never decays.” The pomegranate is,
and was, very common in Palestine and Syria.
It was one of the productions which Rioses
especially distinguisli^d in his address to the
Israelites, as characterising the rich fertility of
the land. The fruit was also one of the three
kinds which the spies brought as favourable
specimens of the produce of the country. The
flowers and fruit are both very beautiful ; the
latter is about the size of an orange, very juicy.

112

TJIE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

iind of an agreeable acid taste. It is still very
highly esteemed ; it is eaten fresh, and its
juice is used as an ingredient in the favourite
and delicious sherbets of Avhich the orientals
are so fond. It is repeatedly alluded to in
Scripture. It is specified by the Israelites
while murmuring at Moses, as one of the great-
est luxuries they enjoyed in Egj'pt, (Nuni.
XX. 5.) In Solomon’s Song it is mentioned as
one of the most vaiued j)lants, (chap. iv. 13 ;)
and imitations of the fruit were among the
chief ornaments of the temple.

The oak {Quevciis rohitr) is frequently found
in Palestine, but the tree mentioned in Scrip-
ture under that name is generally considered
to be the terebinth tree, (Pistaclda terebinthus.)
It yields a resinous substance, as do several
allied species. The produce of the terebinth
is called scio, or Cyprus turpentine ; gum
mastic is the produce of Pistachia lentiscus ;
and the pistachio nuts are the fruit of P. vera.
It was under a terebinth tree that Abraham
entertained the angels, (Gen. xviii. ;) and under
a similar one in Shechem Jacob buried the
idols brought by his people from INIesopo-
tamia, (Gen. xxxv. 4.) It abounds near Jeru-
salem. •

The carob tree {Ceratonia siliqua) is plentiful
in Palestine, as also throughout the south of
Europe. It is a tree from thirty to fifty feet high,
Avith small bunches of red flowers, and is cul-
tivated for the sake of its pods, Avhich contain
a dry pulp, in which the seeds are imbedded.

THE SUB-TROnCAL ZONE.

113

This pulp is very nutritious, and is supposed by
some to have been the food of John the Bap-
tist in the -wilderness, whence it is called.
“ -Locust tree,” and “ St. John’s bread.” It is
also supposed to be the “ husks that the swine
did eat,” spoken of in the parable of the
prodigal son, (Luke xv. 16.) It is still used
in Palestine for feeding swine, and in Spain for
horses.

But we must not leave Palestine without
noticing the myrtle, which is so often found
in the vales among the “eternal hills,” where
all is so calm and tranquil, that, says Dr. Kitto,
it naturally becomes associated in the mind
with everything that is lovely and peaceful. It
I offered a choice emblem of peace and quietude,
and gave a lively freshness to the annuncia-
tion of the angel, as he stood among the
myrtle trees, “ We have walked to and fro
through the earth, and behold, all the earth
sitteth still, and is at rest,” (Zech. i. 11.)
One variety is called the Jews’ myrtle, and has
its leaves in threes at each joint. It is still in
much request among them, and yearly do they
observe the feast of tabernacles, though they
cannot do it as once they did, Avhen Ezra
exhorted them, in conformity with the Mosaic
ritual, to “ go forth unto the mount, and fetch
olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle
branches, and palm branches, and branches of
thick trees, to make booths, as it is written,”
Neh. viii. 15. The myrtle here referred to
is the common myrtle, which was then, and is

114

TUE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

Still, very abundant in Juda3a. The beauty,
loveliness, and fragrance of the myrtle, are
striking emblems of the moral paradise which
is destined to be produced, when the gospel
shall be universally diffused and obeyed, and
of the dispositions it implants in the hearts of
those who yield to its influence. “ I will plant
in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree,
and the myrtle, and the oil tree,” Isa.
xli. 19 ; and again, “ Instead of the thorn shall
come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier
shall come up the myrtle tree : and it shall be
to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off,” Isaiah Iv. 13.
Among the Arabs the myrtle is considered to
rival the violet ; and they have a tradition
that “ Adam fell down from paradise with
three things — the myrtle, which is the chief of
sweet-scented flowers in this Avorld ; an ear of
wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of
food in this world ; and pressed dates, which
are the chief of the fruits of this world.”

India possesses a very rich flora, but the
names of many of the plants would possess but
little interest for those who are unacquainted
Avirh botany. Figs, particularly those of the
banyan kind, which have already been noticed,
form one of the most striking features of
its vegetation. The balsam of our green-
houses, and the kidney-bean, we have re-
ceived from India. The teak tree (or Indian
oak) also abounds in India. Its wood is used
in ship-building, and is so durable, that In-

THE SUB-TBOPICAL ZONE.

115

dian-built ships, constructed of this wood, often
last forty years or more in those seas, where
our ships are ruined in five years. The mango
(^Manyifera Indica) produces a fruit as highly
valued in those warm climates as the peach is
in England. The Palma Christi, or castor oil
plant, (Eicinus communis) is cultivated exten-
sively in the East Indies, United States, and
West Indies, for the sake of the oil obtained
from its seeds, (castor oil,) which is so largely
used in medicine. It attains in its native
climate the height of a tree, though in this
country it can only be grown as an annual,
three or four feet high. It is of very rapid
growth, and is now generally supposed to be
the plant which our translators have rendered
“ a gourd,” which “ came up in a night, and
perished in a night,” for the comfort and the
instruction of Jonah ; though so rapid a growth
as this must have been miraculous. The
fathers, Jerome and Augustine, differed so much
as to the particular plant intended by this
gourd, that we are told from words they pro-
ceeded to blows.

Some of the grasses of India are very fra-
grant. One (^Andropogon sclicmanthus) is called
the lemon grass, and yields a perfume very
much like the lemon plant, or verbena, {Aloysia
citriodora,) which is so often cultivated in our
gardens and cottage windows. The essential
oil distilled from it is imported into this coun-
try, and used in perfumery. Another species
of the same genus {Andropogon calamus aro-

IIG THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

maticus) is considered to be identical Avitli
the calamus of Dioscorides, and also with
the “ sweet calamus,” which Avas one of the
ingredients in the “ holy anointing oil of the
sanctuary,” Exod. xxx. 23. The same plant
is mentioned in Isa. xliii. 24, “ Thou hast
bought me no sweet cane with money,”
alluding to its use in the temple service ;
and again, in Jer. vi. 20, “ To what pur-
pose cometh there to me incense from Sheba,
and the sweet cane from a far country?”
This plant, and another allied species, {Ari-
dropogon hvaranaisa,) cover the extensive
arid plains of central India. The oil is con-
sidered very precious by the natives, Avho
use it as a valuable extei'ual remedy ; and an
infusion of the plant is considered a powerful
medicine in all kinds of fever. The oil is ob-
tained by distillation, from the tlowering spikes,
but at the season and in the places where the
plant groAvs, the jungle fever is so very preva-
lent, that the health and lives of those Avho col-
lect it are in great danger, and, in consequence,
the oil bears a very high price. The greater
part of the oil pi’oduced is sent now, as in
ancient times, as an article of commerce to
Arabia. The oil is so highly fragrant, that
insects Avill not approach it, and the odour of
the plant itself is so poAverful, that though
camels Avill eat almost any A^egetable, yet they
Avill not broAvse on this.

The spikenard of the ancients has been con-
sidered by some to have been this plant ; the

THE SUB-TUOPICAL ZONE,

117

oil of which was thought to be the “ ointment
(more properly “ attar,” or essential oil) of
spikenard, very costly,” mentioned in Mark
xiv. 3 ; but the researches of sir William Jones
seem to show, that a plant of the valerian
tribe, {Nai’dostachjs Jatamansi,) called by the
natives “ Jatamansi,” and by the Arabians “ sum-
bul,” was the true spikenard. It grows plen-
tifully all along the Himalayan Mountains, in
Nipaul, Bengal, Delhi, Deccan, etc., and is not
very unlike in appearance some of the small
“ forget-me-nots ” of our native land. Its attar, or
essential oil, forms a principal ingredient in the
rich essences and perfumes of the Hindoos, of
which the orientals are proverbially fond. They
anoint their persons and perfume their clothes
with them. Various kinds of these essences
were articles of commerce in very ancient
times, such Jis those of roses, cetaca, or panda-
nus, aguru, or’aloes-wood, etc, ; being imported
by the Arabians from India, and by them
carried to Rome, Greece, Judaea, etc., where
they bore very high prices ; the small box for
rather ilask) of spikenard, mentioned above,
being worth more than £9. 7s. 6d. of our
money. The spikenard {Jatamatisi) is still
highly esteemed in India, and is annually
brought down from the Himalayas in large
quantities.

One of the most valuable productions of
India is the cotton, of which at least five or six
species are natives of India, yielding cotton of
various degrees of value. Of all these, how-

118

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

ever, Gossypium herbacoum, is the most gene-
rally cultivated throughout the world. It is a
native of India, Africa, and Syria, hut is
extensively cultivated in India, Asia Minor,
Egypt, S}Tia, Greece, Sicily, Italy, Malta, the
south of Spain, North America, etc. Some '
other species are cultivated in particular places,
as Gossypium Nanking, in China and the Smith
Sea Islands, from which the fabric called
“ Nankeen ” is made. Gossypium religiosum is
cultivated in Sicily and Greece ; G. vitifolium, )
around Cairo, at Rio Janeiro, and the West
Indies ; and G. Barhadense, in Barhadoes, and
generally throughout the West Indies. Cotton
succeeds in those countries whose mean tempe- j
rature is between 61° and 68° Fahr. In some ,
places, as in the Crimea, it ascends to 45° N. lat. ;
in Asia, even to Astrakhan ; in North America^
as far as 40° N. lat. ; in South America to 30°
s. lat. on the eastern coast, and even as far as
33° on the western. The Cape of Good Hope
and Australia arc the most southerly stations
for it. In China and Japan, cotton culture is
in a flourishing condition, but the supply is i
not equal to the demand, and immense quan- . '

titles are exported from the East Indies to
China.

The cotton plants are sown in March, and
when finally thinned, they are left at from three
to six feet distance from each other. They
will last twelve, fifteen, or even twenty years,
and in many countries produce two crops every
year. In some places, however, the cotton is

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

119

treated as an annual. The best plants yield
about two and a half pounds of clean cotton,
the weakest only about five ounces. They re-
quire to be kept free from weeds, especially
from the species of convolvulus, or ipomsea,
which would speedily choke them, and, espe-
; daily in Brazil, are very luxuriant. The col-
' lecting of the ripe cotton capsules is a very
laborious work, and requires a great many
hands in a large plantation ; the harvest lasts
for several weeks. The greatest difficulty is the
separation of the cotton from the seeds ; in
America this is effected very completely and
expeditiously by machinery, but in India by
hand. Cotton appears to have been known to
the ancients. Herodotus mentions cotton gar-
ments 445 years before the Christian era, and
the Mexicans manufactured cotton cloth prior to
the discovery of America. Its importation into
Great Britain has increased with extraordinary
rapidity of late years, and to an extent almost
unexampled in the history of commerce. In
the seventeenth century, the trifling supply re-
quired was obtained wholly from Smyrna and
Cyprus. In the )'ear 1786, about 20,000,000
pounds Avere imported. In 1838, the quantity
was upwards of 500,000,000 pounds ; and in
1848, the enormous quantity of 712,554,080
pounds were imported into this country ; while
the quantity of cotton manufactures exported in
the year 1848, Avas of the value of £16,770,868 ;
and of cotton spun into yarn, £5,927,956.

The quantity of cotton manufactures, ex-

120

THE GEOGUAPIIY OF PLANTS.

elusive of lace, patent net, ' sewing -tli read,
stockings, and other cotton goods not entered
by the yai'd, included in the above amount, for
1848, was upwards of 1,046,000,000 of yards,
which would reach to the moon and back again,
and then leave enough to form a band almost
all round the earth. These facts will give some
faint idea of the vast extent and importance of
this branch of our manufactures and commerce.
Our principal supply of cotton is from America
and Bengal, but the East Indies and Egypt also
contribute greatly to the importation. A large
portion of the textures manufactured from it is
reconveyed to the countries which originally
furnished it. When machinery was first in-
troduced into the cotton manufacture, it was
made capable of spinning one poiind of cotton
into yarn one hundred and sixty miles long,
and a much greater degree of fineness may now
be obtained. The hund-spiimers and weavers
in India far outdo machinery in the delicacy of
their fabrics, some of their muslins being ex-
pressively termed “ woven air ; ” but so great
is the saving effected by machinery in the pro-
duction of all other kinds of cotton fabrics, that
a large portion of those used in India are ex-
ported from Britain, it being a saving of ex-
pense to cause the materials thus to undergo
the double voyage, though labour in India is
so extremely cheap.

The climate of the Himalayan Mountains, as,
for instance, about Delhi, is in summer quite
tropical, so that almost all the fruits of the

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

121

equinoctial zone can be ripened there ; -while,
in winter, the temperature is so low, that
often old trees of the well-known tropical fruits
perish. During the summer, which is there
at the rainy season, there are cultivated in the
province of Delhi, rice, indigo, cotton, maize or
Indian corn, and some tropical kinds of grain,
goui'ds, ginger, turmeric, etc. In the winter
season the appearance of this district is totally
different, for then the corn j^lants of the north
are cultivated, such as wheat, barley, oats,
millet ; also, beans, vetches, coriander, carra-
way, flax, etc. On the eastern side of the
Himalayan chain, in the sub-tropical part of
China, and in the south of Japan, some im-
portant plants appear for the first time. Here,
Indeed, some plants of tropical climes extend
much further north than in Europe, especially
near the sea, as the palms, bananas, arborescent
grasses, etc.

Several trees of the Anacardmm or cashew
nut tribe, growing in Japan, China, Burmah,
and India, yield a resinous juice, which is used
in those countries as a varnish, and generally
turns black. They are dangerous, however, to
use, as the fumes are of so acrid a nature, as to
cause painful and even dangerous inflammation
and swelling. Some constitutions are more
susceptible of these effects than others. The
valuable black hard varnish, called Japan
lacquer, is obtained from Stagviaria verniciflua ;
its resin is so extremely acrid, as to cause
excoriations and blisters if applied to the

122 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS,

skin ; the people of Sumatra consider it dan-
gerous to sit or sleep beneath the shade of the
tree. According to Thunberg, ic is also ob-
tained from Rhus vernicife>'a^ which yields a
very beautiful varnish, which Avill when dry
bear the heat of boiling w'ater "without injury,
but cracks and flies like glass if struck.
Tlie beautiful Glycine sinensis, with its myriad
bunches of lovely blossoms, resembling labur-
nums, except in their rich lilac colour — the
Olea fragrans, the sweet-scented blossoms ot
which are mixed with the finer teas to give
them flavour — the Thuja orientalis, (commonly
called lignum vitce,) the Chinese chrysan-
themum, which produces its richly beautiful
blossoms of every shade of red, yellow, and
white, after almost all our other flowers are
past — and the China, or Banksian roses, which
are so highly valued among florists, and the
lovers of the gai’den — are all abundant in the
Chinese provinces.

Here, also, are the camphor laurel, the
aucuba, so frequent and beautiful an ornament
of our gardens, the magnificent camellia, and
the tea tree. The hydrangeas, so well known
as garden flowers in England, inhabit marshes
in China, and when cultivated here require
large quantities of water, A full-sized one
requires as much as ten or twelve gallons a day
in warm Aveather. But the tea shrub is pre-
eminently the plant of China. The plant from
Avhich the tea of commerce is obtained, is Thea
Chinensis, a plant allied to the lovely camellia.

THE SUB-XnOPICAL ZONE.

123

A considerable number of varieties of the tea
plant are known, two or three of which have
been distinguished by several botanists as dis-
tinct species, T. bohea, T. vu'idis, and 2\ stncta.
China, Ava, the Burman empire, Thibet,
Cochin China, Tonquin, and Assam, all cul-
tivate the tea plant, but especially the first of
these, where it is found as high as the 40th
parallel of north latitude. Chinese writings
trace the use of tea back as far as a.d. 265 ;
and ever since the year 763, when a duty of
ten per cent, was laid upon it, the government
has always derived from it a large revenue.

Plantations of tea are formed by sowing
the seeds, Avhich are set more or less regu-
larly. In the first year, the middle shoot is
stopped, that it may become more bushy and
leaty. The gathering of the tea crop does not
commence till the plants are four or five years
old. They are generally about three feet
high, and about three feet apart, and are kept
carefully manured. The fresh leaves have
nothing of the flavour and odour of the dried
tea, which seems to be produced by drying, as
that of coffee is by roasting. The leaves are
laid upon large iron plates, which are greatly
heated, and in large flat iron pans, with
somewhat sloping sides. The leaves are first
made to shrivel up in these pans, by the
application of a gentle heat, with constant
stirring, and are then gradually dried by
keeping up the heat. After this, the hot
leaves are turned out upon mats, and rubbed

f

124 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

with the palms of the hands, and wlien cool
returned to the pans : this is repeated till the
tea is perfectly dried. In this way, three
pounds of leaves produce one pound of tea.
This appears, from the most recent accounts, to
be the usual method of preparing green tea ;
black tea is said to be prepared from the same
kind of leaves, in the same "vvay, except that
they are first exposed for some time in sieves
to hot steam.

The quality of the tea depends upon the
stage of growth at "which it is gathered. Early
leaves make the best tea ; those picked late
in the season a very coarse one. The first
gathering of tea leaves commences about the
latter end of February, Avhen the leaves are
young and unexpanded. This is called im-
perial tea, and is highly esteemed. Pekoe, or
pak-ko, which means “ white down” in Chinese,
consists of the first downy sprouts or leaf-buds,
of three year old plants. Of course, the gather-
ing must be injurious to soiue extent to the
future produce of the shrub ; hence, the tea is
both dear, and the production small in quantity.
A very costly tea of this kind, never brought
to Europe, and known as the “ tea of the wells
of the dragon,” is used only by persons of
the highest rank in China. The real imperial
tea, also, is not, as is usually supposed, the
flower-buds, but only a very superior quality
as just stated ; it is seldom brought to Europe,
that sold under this name being really Chusan
tea, flavoured with blossoms of Oka fmgrans.

THE SUB-TROriCAL ZONE.

125

“ Young hyson,” also, till it was spoiled by
the large demands of late years, was a delicate
young leaf, called in Chinese “Yu-tseen” —
“ before the rains.” As it could not be pro-
duced genuine in any large quantity, it has
been imitated by cutting up green teas of
common quality, and sifting them through
sieves of a certain size ; and even the coarsest
black teas have of late been cut up in a similar
manner, and then coloured green with a pre-
paration ; and these spurious articles form the
bulk of the “ young hyson” now sold. The
second collection of leaves is made about the
beginning of April, and the third in June.
The bulk of the last collection is an inferior
and coarse kind of ‘tea, a large quantity of
which is retained among the Chinese for home
consumption.

The finest and most delicate teas are almost
entirely retained among the Chinese them-
selves, for use among the higher orders, and
for presents. The middle and some of the
coarser qualities are those chiefly exported.
Some of the inferior qualities are made into
what is called brick tea. It comes into trade
in hard cakes, very like thin bricks, consisting
of leaves only partially separated from the
stalks, held together by some clammy sub-
stance, pressed in the form of cakes, and dried
in the ovens. In using it, some pieces are
broken off, reduced to powder, and then boiled
with water or milk, meal, and fat. The soldiers
on the northern frontier of China are paid in

126 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

brick tea, and in Tartary it is the usual me-
dium of exchange.

Now let us look a little at the consumption
and produce of tea. It was first brought to
Europe by the Dutch, in 1610. A small
quantity came to England in 1650. It is
first publicly noticed in an act of parlia-
ment of the year 1660, in which it is enu-
merated as one of the beverages sold in coffee-
houses, and a duty of eightpence per gallon
was laid on the liquor made and sold from
it. In the Journal of Pepys, then secretary to
the Admiralty, he says : “ Sept. 25, 1661. I
sent for a cup of tea, (a China drink,) of
which I had never drunk before.” In 1664,
the British East India Company sent two
pounds of tea as a present to the king. Two
years later, a quantity was imported from
Holland by lord Arlington and lord Ossory,
at which time it was sold for sixty shillings per
pound. In 1667, the East India Company
issued their first order to import tea, directing
their agent at Bantam to send home 100 pounds
of the best he could get. Since that time the
consumption has steadily increased. In 1734,
the quantity imported Avas 632,000 pounds ; in
1768, it was nearly 7,000,000 pounds; in 1812,
20,000,000 pounds ; and during the last four
years of the East India Company’s charter, it ave-
raged 31,500,000 pounds. Since the abolition of
the monopoly, and the consequent reduction in
price, the consumption has received a power-
ful impulse, and the importation of 1847 Avas

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

127

55,624,946 pounds. It has been calculated that
the consumption of tea in England is equal to
a pound and a half per annum for each indi-
vidual ; but in China it must be much greater
in proportion, for there every one, who can,
drinks tea at every meal — three, six, or even
ten times in the day. Tea, too, is much
cheaper there than in England, the average
price being one-fourth of a piastre per pound
in Canton, equal to about tenpence English.
If, then, the consumption be only at the same
rate as in England, 450,000,000 pounds, at least,
are annually consumed in that empire alone.
How vast the quantity of fresh leaves, the
extent of plantations, and the number of hands
necessarily engaged in the culture and manu-
facture of this enormous bulk of the one article
— tea 1

But ere we leave China, we must briefly
notice rice, which, with tea and cotton, form
the three most important products of the east,
Kice probably supports more persons than any
other kind of grain. It is a native of South
America, as on the Rio Negro and in Para ;
also of Ethiopia, and probably of Asia. It is
most generally cultivated in the east and south
parts of Asia, where it forms the staple article of
food ; and, to a great extent, it is similarly em-
ployed in the north of Africa, Egypt, Nubia,
Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and
especially in the Southern States of North Ame-
rica, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Brazils.
In India and China, where rice is the chief food,

128

TIIE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

famine is the inevitable consequence of a failure
of the crop, and this is not unfrequent, either
from too much or too little rain, or from insects.
Ill China, the land no longer produces sufficient
food for the excessive population, notwithstand-
ing all the industry with which agriculture is
carried on ; and this country, therefore, con-
sumes all the superfluous produce of the fertile
islands of the Indian Archipelago, But when
the rice crop fails in China, the greatest fleets
could hardly bring so much of the grain as
would be required to prevent a famine. The
Chinese government, therefore, adopts the same
wise and benevolent policy which Joseph re-
commended to Pharaoh. Public granaries are
established in each province, under the control
of certain officers, whose duty it is, during a
time of plenty, to purchase, at the cost of
government, large supplies of rice, to be distri-
buted to the poor at saich prices as circum-
stances may require. If the grain of the follow-
ing year should amount to an average crop,
the stock on hand is sold at a price a little
lower than the first cost ; if the supply should
be considerably short of the demand, it is
then sold to the poor at reduced prices ;
but if the famine should be severe, it is then
supplied to the sufferers gratuitously.

There are two varieties of rice : the moun-
tain rice, which grows on hills ; the other
in marshy or very wet places. The common,
or marsh rice, is generally sown in hollows pre-
pared for it, two or three feet deep, and which

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

129

can be filled with water. In the south of
China, these rice grounds occupy the whole of
the level ground, and much of the sides of the
mountains. In the latter case, they are either
supplied with water by the streams which
descend the mountain sides, or water is pumped
from a field to the one lying above it, and
in this way the water is often carried one
thousand feet high. When the young plants
are two or three inches high the tops are
broken off, that each plant may form several
shoots. In some parts of China, each plant is
transplanted two or three times, in order to
obtain a more abundant crop. The harvest
commences three or four months after the
transplanting ; the ears are either cut closely
off, and the stalks left to decay, or they are cut
with the stalk, and bound into small sheaves.
The average produce of marsh rice is from one
hundred to one hundred and twenty fold.

A great variety of plants, of very peculiar
character, and strikingly different from any
which we are accustomed to see, distinguish
this zone in South Australia. We will notice
just a few ; to do more would occupy too much
space, while a mere enumeration of the scien-
tific names would convey no information. So
strange is the character of the vegetation of this
country, that at first it would seem as if it
belonged to^a different world. Evergreens, of
a dark melancholy hue, prevail ; and there are
whole shadowless forests of trees, with leaf
stalks, but no leaves. The leaf stalks, dilated

E

130 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

and set edge-wise on the stem, supply the place
of leaves in providing nourishment for the tree.
They have a most singular appearance. The
beautiful shrubby tribe of proteas, of which
there are six hundred and filty known species,
abound in Australia, and nearly half of this
number grow in the latitude of 33° or 34°.
The myrtle tribe abound here, with splendid
blossoms — white, purple, yellow, and crimson.
Of one genus of this tribe, Eucalyptus^ or gum
tree, one hundred species, most of them large
trees, grow in this country, some two hundred
feet high, with straight trunks, rising to the
height of one hundred or one hundred and fifty
feet without branching, and resembling an
assemblage of elegant columns, so irregularly
placed as to intercept the view at the. distance
of a few hundred yards. They are elegantly
crowned with branching tops of light willow-
like foliage. Some of what are called “ stringy
bark gum trees,” rise nearly as high as the
Monument v/ithout branching.

A gigantic nettle, Urtica gigas, is a tree with
trunks eighteen, twenty, or even twenty-one
feet in circumference ; the leaves are heart-
shaped, and six inches across ; the sting is as
painful as that of a wasp. The Moreton Bay
chesnut, Cataiiospermum Australis, is a fine tree,
with a profusion of flame-coloured blossoms, and
leaves like those of the walnut. Doryanthes
excelsa, a splendid plant of the lily tribe, twenty-
four feet high, has brilliant crimson blossoms,
and stems as thick as a man’s arm, wdiich are

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZOKE.

131

roasted and eaten by the natives. Leafless
acacias, of which there are ninety-three species,
and the Epacria, a beautiful tribe resembling
the heaths, and containing three hundred and
twenty species, with scarlet, rose, and white
blossoms, form conspicuous featm'es in the
vegetation. The Epacridce are almost confined
to Australia and Polynesia. Only a single
species of heath is found throughout Australia.
Some species of fig which grow here are very
remarkable. It sometimes happens, that wdien
the seeds of these fig trees are deposited by
birds in the cavities of other trees, as the
eucalyptus, etc., at elevations of perhaps fifty
feet, or more, they vegetate, and send down
roots to the ground. These adhere to the
tree in their course, and branching, unite with
other roots of a similar kind. These thicken,
spread, and again interlace, till at length the
foster tree is completely encased, and its top
is only visible, rising from among the branches
of the fig, at the height of seventy or eighty
feet.

In middle Australia, various parasitic orchi-
deacecB adorn the branches of the forest trees,
and numerous climbing plants, with stems
varying from the thickness of a pack-thread to
that of a man’s body, ascend into their tops,
and send down their branches in graceful fes-
toons. Two species of passion flower, one of
jasmine, three of cissus, (a vine-like plant, with
grapes the size of sloes,) various ipomseas, with
lovely large floivers of pink, blue, white, and

132

THE GEOGIIAPIIY OF FEANTS.

yellow tints ; species of pepper, running up the
trees like ivy ; and beautiful tecoinas, (or trum-
pet flower,) with brilliant white flowers, tinged
with rose — were a few of the rich variety ob-
served by Mr. Backhouse in these forests. A
cabbage palm {^Ooi'rjpha Australis') abounds. In
South Australia, the grass-tree {Kingia A ustralis)
rises solitary on the sandy plains, with bare
blackened trunks, as if scathed by lightning,
occasioned by the fires of the natives, and with
long tufts of grassy leaves at their extremities.
Xanthorrhea hastilis (also called the grass-tree)
is a very singular tree in its appearance, but
furnishes very valuable fodder for all kinds of
cattle, and the tender inner leaves are not to be
despised by the hungry as human food ; they
are far from disagreeable, having a milky taste,
with a slight balsamic flavour. But we must
not omit to mention the numerous ferns, which
form a most marked feature in the Australian
flora, and which are of all sizes, from the small
and delicate frond to the magnificently beau-
tiful tree ferns, with their feathery fronds thir-
teen feet long. Some of them climb the trees
like ivy, some crowd the trunks of the hu-gest
forest trees, some cover the ground, and some
are splendid tree ferns, with fronds from six to
thirteen feet long, and trunks varying from three
to thirty feet in height. Acrostichum grande,
one of the ferns that grow on the trees, is as
large as a full-grown Scotch cabbage, and is
remarkably beautiful. The elk’s horn fern
{Acrostichum alcicorne) grows in thick, dense

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

133

masses, encircling the trunks of the trees. It
retains much moisture in its dead, sterile fronds,
which form large scales, rising one over another;
it generally grows on the upper portions of the
trunks of the Casuarince, (called “oaks” in
Australia,) and in stormy weather they are
sometimes thrown down by the weight of water
and vegetable matter thus accumulated above
them. Not the least remarkable circumstance
in Australian vegetation is, that scarce any
edible fruits, grain, or vegetables, have as yet
been found native there.

The flora of South Africa differs very re-
markably from that of most other parts of our
globe, but most resembles that of Australia.
The soil is sometimes gravelly, sometimes sand
and clay, and stretches to an unknown distance
into the interior. During the summer it is
dry and parched, many even of the rivers dis-
appear, and but few plants are seen, except
succulent-leaved mesembryanthemums,etc., and
stunted mimosas. The effect of rain is, however,
like magic ; in a short time, the ground is
covered with a vast variety of beautiful plants,
great numbers of which are peculiar to the
district. Twelve thousand species of plants
have been collected in the colony of the Cape
of Good Hope, among which heaths, proteas,
geraniums, and everlasting flowers, hold a con-
spicuous place.

“ Gay plants on every side
Unclose their lovely blooms,

And scatter far and wide
Their ravishing perfumes.”

134

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

Out of 553 species of heaths which are
known, 533 inhabit the Cape colony, and are
peculiar to it, only twenty species being scattered
over the rest of the world. Of these England
has six species, Mauritius three, Australia one,
Portugal three, middle Europe two. South Eu-
rope five, Sicily one, Greece two, Arabia one,
Corsica and Italy one, and two are found all
over Europe. At the Cape — the head-quarters
of this beautiful tribe — they revel in the greatest
luxuriance, and seem to call the colony their
own ; their height far surpasses any known in
England, a person on horseback being often
overshadowed by them ; and as gems of beauty
they cannot be exceeded. Two hundred species
of protea have also been collected here, one of
the most splendid of which {^Protea cynaroides)
has a flower the size of a man’s hat. Not one,
however, of these two genera is to be found north
of the mountains which bound the great Karroo,
and most grow within one hundred miles of
Cape Town ; indeed, so local are they, that at
the Cape the prevailing proteas are quite dif-
ferent from those forty miles off. In the sandy
portions of the northern part of the counti*y
are found Stapelias, succulent plants, Avitli
leafless stems, and flowers the shape of star-
fish, which emit a scent so exactly like putrid
flesh, that flies will often settle upon them in
mistake.

Large portions of South Africa, both on the
east and west, are covered with extensive
thickets of thorny shrubs, called by the natives

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

135

“ the bush,” much of which is composed of
various mimosas and acacias. One of these,
from its numerous hooked thorns, Acacia deti-
nens, is called by the ‘natives “ stop-a-while
and with good reason, for no sooner is the pas-
senger disengaged from one hook, than he finds
that several others have caught hold of his
clothes, and he may think himself well off if
they are not torn to rags ere he is extricated.
Another, Acacia giraffes, is one of the finest
timber trees of the country ; it is of very slow
growth, and attains a large size, reaching the
height of seventy feet. The wood, when dried
for years, sinks in the water like lead. But
this, and many others of the large trees, are
much rarer in many parts of the country
than formerly, multitudes having been de-
stroyed by the natives for various purposes.
Whole forests have become thus 'annihilated,
and the consequence has been, a gradual dimi-
nution of the amount of rain, producing a long
succession of dry seasons, the failure of the
fountains and springs, and drought and desola-
tion instead of the verdure of the forest. Among
the thickets grow various species of aloe in
great abundance, all with fleshy leaves, and
some very beautiflil. Aloe spicata, a plant three
or four feet high, with a spike of bell-shaped
white flowers, yields the Cape aloes, which are
much used in medicine ; this drug is the juice
of the plant evaporated to dryness. The great
arborescent aloe, with red flowers, is a very
conspicuous plant. Ahe dichotoma, which, in

136 THE GEOGRAPIIY OF PLANTS.

our hot-houses, reaches a considerable size, is
said to attain a circumference of three hundred
or four hundred feet at the Cape, and yet the
soil is nowhere drier than in those places
where the aloes are found. Great succulent
prickly euphorbias also abound here, some of
w'hich grow into trees forty feet high.

Plants of the genera Cycas and Zamia are
found frequenting the West Indies, Japan,
and INIadagascar. They most resemble palms,
with very short stems, though one which
grows on the west coast of Australia is thirty
leet high. Some of these yield a kind of
arrow-root and sago ; the sago produced from
Cycas revoluta is said to be held in the highest
esteem ; soldiers are able to exist for a long
time on a very small quantity of it, and the
laws of Japan forbid the removal of the plants
from the country. The trunks of species ol
this tribe have been found in considerable
numbers near the Isle of Portland, in our own
country, in a fossil state, apparently indicating
a time when the climate of England was of
a far more tropical character than at present.
Many other facts point to a similar conclusion.*
South Africa is the country of geraniums, by
far the larger part of the tribe being found
hero. Five species of geranium, three of Ero-
dium, and two hundred and eighty -seven
species of Pelargonium inhabit the Cape, and
fill the air with their perfume.

To the genus Pelargonium belong almost all

* Not one species of palm is indigenous to the colony.

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 1,37

the beautiful and favourite “ geraniums ” of our
gardens, green-houses, and cottage windows.
Ninety-four beautiful species of Oxalis, or
wood-sorrel ; ixias inmunerable, a lovely tribe
of bulbous-rooted plants ; one hundred and
fifty-three species of the house-leek and stone-
crop tribe, all fleshy, attached to the soil by a
strong wiry root, and nourished more or less
from the atmosphere, are among the rich vege-
tation of the Cape. Many of the succulent
plants are found in the driest situations, where
not a blade of grass nor a particle of moss can
grow— on naked rocks, old walls, sandy hot
plains, alternately exposed to the heaviest dews
of night, and the fiercest rays of a noonday’s
sun. Soil is to them something to keep them
stationary, rather than a source of nutriment.
So tenacious are they of life, that even when
gathered, and between the drying paper of the
botanical collector, under a heavy pressure,
and having been exposed to heat, if possible to
kill them, they have been known not only to
live, but even to push out long shoots, and if
in flower, for the process of fructification to
proceed as if growing in the soil. Three hun-
dred and twenty-six species of the succulent
tribe of mesembryanthemums, called fig mari-
golds and ice plants, are found here, many of
which have star-like flowers of dazzling beauty,
and of every tint of white, yellow, purple, rose-
colour, brown, flesh-coloured, red, crimson and
scarlet. Many another tribe, equally showy
and brilliant, though less known, adorns the

E 2

1 38 TUE GEOGKAPHY OF PLANTS.

wilds of South Africa, with a splendour un-
known in our colder clime.

Among the most striking features of the
Cape are the myrtle hedges, Avhich grow to a
great height around every inclosure ; “ their
blooming beauty waving over the head of the
passenger ; they unite their fragrance with the
odoriferous exhalations from the orange and
lemon trees, so abundant in that clime.” Some-
times these luxmdant hedges extend for one or
two miles, separating gardens, orchards, and
other cultivated grounds. Some of our country-
men, who have visited the Cape of Good Hope,
have recorded, that on their first arrival there
they have trodden with caution, lest they should
destroy the bright and beautiful heaths, gera-
niums, ixias, etc., which lay in their path.
When -wandering into the country they have
come home laden wdth the wild flo-\vers of the
land, and have wondered how the colonists
could wholly neglect the peerless beauties
around them, Avhile they cultivated with the
most sedulous attention the paler flowers of
more northern regions, the tulips, primroses,
h3’acinths, etc., of Europe. Not one of the
lovely heaths is admitted into the garden of a
colonist ; and our countrymen in like manner
soon came to regard them as common bushes,
and cherish the English plants, which now had
attained to the value of exotics.

But rich as is the vegetation of South
Africa, and beautiful as its plants are, there are
vast tracts Avhich are entirely desert, where

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE,

139

only a few mimosas mark the course of some
scanty water -course, dried up in the hotter
months. These vast deserts are termed the
Karroo, and Mr. Campbell remarked to Mr.
Moffiit, after travelling several days across
them, “ Sir, it would require a good pair of
spectacles to see a blade of grass in this world.”
The Karroo has been well described by one
who lived near its borders, and has often trod
its surface —

“ A region of emptiness, howling and drear.

Which mankind hath abandon’d from famine and fear:
.Wl'ich the snake and tlie lizard inhabit alone,

And the bat flitting forth from his old hollow stone :
Where herb, nor shrub, nor tree takes root.

Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot, —

And the bitter melon, for food and drink.

Is the pilgrim’s fare by the salt lake’s brink ; —

A region of drought, where no river glides,

Nor rippling brook with osier’d sides.

Nor reedy pool, nor mossy fountain,

Nor shady tree, nor cloud-capp’d mountain, —

Are found, to refresh the aching eye;

But the barren earth, and the burning sky,

And the blank horizon, round and round.

Without a living sight or sound,

Tell to the heart, in its pensive mood.

That this is nature’s solitude.”

In North America, the lovely magnolias, the
elegant but poisonous kalmias, both so de-
servedly prized by florists, and various species
of pine and oak, are some of the characteristic
plants of this zone. On the Lower Mississippi
there are vast forests of cypress ; species of
laurel, walnuts, sassafras, willow, and poplar,
also cover the banks in places. In the southern
part of the United States, trees with shining
broad leaves and splendid blossoms, such as the
magnificent magnolias, and tulip trees often one

140 TUE GEOGRAniY OF PLANTS.

hundred and twenty feet high, are distinctive
features. The long-leaved pitch pine, one of
the most picturesque of trees, covers an arid
soil on the coast of the Atlantic to the extent of
sixty thousand square miles. In the prairies of
the valley of the Mississippi, dahlias, and even-
ing primroses {^CEnotlierd') abound Avith species
of knapweed, (Centaurea,) wormwood, and
milk-vetch, (Astragalus.) Seven species of
pine are indigenous in California, some of
Avhich have measured two hundred and even
three hundred feet in height, and eighty feet in
circumference. Here, too, grow the beautiful
flowering currant bushes, now become so gene-
ral in our gardens, and so ornamental in spring,
(liibes sanguineum, and R. auretim,) and hence,
too, come some of the most beautiful annuals
of our flower borders, as Gilia tricolor, Clarkia
pulchella, Bartonia aurea, Collinsia hicolor, Enj-
simuvi peroffskianmn, etc.

The tobacco plant (Nicotia7m tabacum) is a
native of this part of America, and of Persia.
Three species only are cultivated for use, the
above, and N. maci'ophylla and mstica. The
practice of tobacco smoking was introduced by
sir Walter Raleigh, about 1 58G. Its use, how-
ever, like that of coffee, encountered much
opposition. Laws and severe penalties were
enacted against it. The grand duke of IMoscow
forbade its entrance into his territory, under
pain of the knout for the first offence, and
death for the next. The emperor of the Turks,
the king of Persia, and pope Urban viii., all

THE SUB-TKOPICAL ZONE.

141

issued similar prohibitions. A hundred volumes
were written against it, and even king James i.
took up his pen to suppress it. He styles it,
“ a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the
nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the
lungs, and in the black stinking ftime thereof
most nearly resembling the horrible Stygian
smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” Notwith-
standing all this opposition, however, smoking
has spread not only among civilized but savage
nations ; and now, probably, there is no
single product of the vegetable kingdom so
universally used. The cultivation of tobacco
for commerce is chiefly carried on from 23° to
40° N. lat., and mainly in Virginia and Mary-
land. It might be successfully cultivated in
England, but this is prohibited in order to
encourage our American trade. The importa-
tion into this country’^ in 1848 was 34,481,798
pounds of manufactured tobacco, and 1,504,673
pounds of cigars and snuff. The high rate of
duty upon them, 3s. per pound, is, however, a
great temptation to smuggling, and it has been
calculated that one-fourth of the quantity' con-
sumed in Britain, and three -fourths of that
used in Ireland are contraband. This is, pro-
b.ably, an over estimate of the present state of
the trade.

From Mexico we have received the splendid
dahlia, brought here by lady Holland in 1804 ;
but its splendour, as Cliltivated in our gardens,
far exceeds that of the wild plant, the latter
having only a single flower of a reddish colour,

142

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

and by no means of remarkable beauty. Here
abound a variety of plants of singular form,
commonly known to botanists under the names
of Agave, Furcroea, and Yucca. One species
of the latter ( Y. gloriosa) is commonly known
as Adam’s needle ; and one of the agaves (A.
Ame7'ica}ia) is the celebrated American aloe.
Some of these plants are stemless, while others
have stems of various height and size, some of
them fairly deserving to be called gigantic.

The agaves are cultivated in Mexico to a
very large extent for the sake of the sap, which
is very plentiful, and which, after being drawn
from a wound made in the flowering shoot just
as it begins to rise, is fermented, and forms a
liquor called “ pulque,” which is a very
favourite beverage among the IMexicans. A
good plant yields from eight to fifteen pints of
pulque per day, during two or three months ;
and a very vigorous plant is said to yield seven
gallons per day, and through a much longer
period. It is singular that the plants grow on
the very driest ground, which is often scarcely
covered with soil. Pulque is said to have a
remarkably disagreeable odour, resembling
putiid fl(jsh ; but when once the repugnance to
this smell is overcome, even foreigners prefer
pulque to every other drink, for it is said to be
very nutritious and refreshing. Some idea of
the enormous quantity consumed may be
formed from the fact, that, before the revolu-
tion, from a very small duty laid upon it, no
less than £170,000 were paid yearly upon that

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 143

brought into the two towns of Mexico and La
Puebla.

One species of agave, {A. Americana,) com-
monly known as the great American aloe, is
celebrated as flowering only once in a hundred
years ; the fact is, that all the agaves and
allied genera produce a flowering spike of large
size, but seldom till they have arrived at a con-
siderable age ; and it would seem as if in some
species the strength of the plant was over-
exerted to produce the enormous mass of
flowers, for they seem to be then exhausted,
and die soon after. The pulque-bearing agaves
seldom flower till they are fifteen years old.
The fibrous parts of the root are made into
cordage, and of these tough ropes the rude
suspension bridges of Mexico are constructed.
In former times, the. agave was extensively
employed in making a kind of paper, which
was so much used that, in the time of Mon-
tezuma, thousands seem to have been engaged
in painting hieroglyphics on this material. Thus,
as Humboldt says, “ It may be used as a sub-
stitute for the hemp of Asia, the paper reed of
Africa, and the vine of Europe.” In the West
Indies and the Cape of Good Hope, it is much
employed for making hedges, which are most
thoroughly impervious.

A botanist and traveller, Karwinski, gives a
striking account of a plant of this kind, (A’wr-
crcea longceva,) which he discovered on the
mountains of Oaxaca, in Mexico, at a height
of nine or ten thousand feet. This giant of

144

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

flowers had a slender trunk, forty or fifty feet
high, and from twelve to eighteen inches in
diameter ; at the top of this began the great
tuft of leaves, five and six feet long, from the
centre of which rose a spike of numerous white
flowers ; this spike of flowers was from thirty
to forty feet long, and had on it probably
twenty thousand blossoms. It was, therefore,
from eighty to ninety feet in total height, and
is supposed to be three hundred or four hun-
dred years old.

But, if the gigantic furcrsea is so imposing in
size, the yuccas are no less attractive for their
beautiful flowers, of which we cannot have a
better idea than by imagining a tree of somewhat
similar figure to the giant just described, but of
far lower stature, and with a magnificent spike
of tulip-like flowers, of the most vivid hues.
The South American flora in this zone differs
most remarkably from that of South Africa
or Australia, though in the same latitudes.
Seventy-six species of the beautiful Calceolaria,
so many of which adorn our green-houses, and
many species of oxalis, or wood sorrel, and
mimosa, inhabit Brazil, Chili, etc. ]\[hnosa pu-
dica, a native of Brazil, is the celebrated sensi-
tive plant, the leaves closing and falling on the
slightest touch. Most of the mimosas, of which
there are seventy-three species, possess the same
property. Myi-tles, fuchsias, which are covered
Avith their lovely flowers all the year round, grow
everywhere. Not one species of rose has been
found in South America. But the most interesting

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

145

tribe is that generally known as the cactus, of
which there are eight hundred species, not one
of which is known as a native of either Europe,
Asia, Africa, or Australia, though in many of
these they have been introduced, and grow
freely as naturalized plants, as for, instance, on
Mount -(Etna. One of the most splendid is the
night-blowing cereus, {Cereits granclijbms,) the
blossoms of which begin to expand about six
or seven in the evening, and are fully blown by
eleven o’clock, but by three or four in the
morning they fade, and hang down quite de-
cayed. There is scarcely a flower known of
greater beauty than this. Its blossoms are
nearly a foot in diameter ; the outer petals are
of a dark brown, the inner ones of a splendid
yellow, which gradually shades off to the most
brilliant white in the centre of the flower.
When several of these magnificent flowers,
therefore, are open at once upon a single plant,
they seem like stars shining out in all their
lustre, verifying the poet’s declaration —

“ Darkness shows us worlds of light,

We never see by day.”

Some of the species, forming the genus Melocactus
are globular, furrowed and beset with spines,
and in shape greatly resembling melons.

Another, Cereus senilis, is called the old man
cactus ; it is of an oblong shajie, about three
inches high, of a greyish colour, and covered
with long hair-like bristles, like the grey head
of an old man. It has a very singular appear-
ance. The creeping cereus, for “ creap in

146 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

serious,” as we have seen it spelt on a boat on
the coast,) Cereus flagelliformis, so common in
our green-houses and cottage-windows, is a
native of South America, and of the deserts of
Arabia. It is not, however, to be despised be-
cause it is common, for its flowers are very beau-
tiful, and are produced in profusion, while the
ease with which it may be trained on trellises
renders it a desirable ornament. The fruits of
several species of the cactus tribe are used as
edibles, and are veiy grateful in hot countries.
On Mount .^tna they are sold in considerable
quantities, and some of the varieties are excel-
lent. The fruit of one species (Oputitia tuna)
is of the richest carmine hue, and its juice
is employed at Naples as a water colour. But
the most important use of this tribe is the
production of cochineal, which is not strictly,
however, a product of the plants, but an insect
ailied to oiu' lady-birds, which lives and feeds on
several species, chiefly on Opuntia cochinellifera
and 0. tuna. The cochineal cactuses are princi-
pally cultivated in Mexico, Brazil, and the
West Indies, whence we receive our chief supply
of cochineal. Attempts also have been made
to introduce them into Tenerifle and IMadeira,
where they appear to succeed ; but it seems pro-
bable that cochineal can be grown with advan-
tage only where labour is very cheap. The
quantity imported into England in 1848 was
2,058,560 pounds. On the table -lands of
southern Peru, near the limit of vegetation,
there are seen mounds, a foot or a foot and a

THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE.

147

half high, of a reddish yellow colour, which
are often mistaken at a distance for crouching
deer ; but when more closely examined the
resemblance vanishes. These little mounds are
formed of low cactus plants, the leaves of which
are pressed close to each other, and covered with
reddish yellow spines, two or three inches long,
between which the flowers appear, but do not
rise above them.

148

tiil: geography of plants.

CHAPTER IV.

Wanner temperate zone — Orange — Vine — Varieties— Asia
Minor— Benefits of commerce— Rose — Thibet— Prangos—
United States — Maize— Cliili — Araucaria — Primeval forests
— New Zealand — Van Diemen’s Land — The colder tem-
perate zone — Oak— Corn— Comparison of this zone in the
northern and southern liemispheres — Sub -arctic zone —
Pine and Fir- .Arctic zone— Polar zone.

The Wanner Temperate Zone extends from 34“
to 45° of latitude either north or south. Tliis
zone includes southern Europe, as far as the
Pyrenees and the southern Alps, Italy, Spain,
Portugal, the south of France, the isles of the
IMediterranean, Turkey, and Greece. In Asia —
Asia Minor, part of Syria, Armenia, the north
of Persia, the south of Tartary, the north of
Thibet, the northern part of the vast Chinese
empire, and Japan. In North America — the
northern part of the United States, the Mis-
souri and Oregon territories. In South America
— the south of Chili, and parts of La Plata and
Patagonia : New Zealand, and Van Diemen’s
Land. The average mean temperature of these
countries is between 53° and 62° Fahr. In the
plains of Majorca, the carob tree (Ceratonia
siliqud) and the olive grow luxuriantly. INIany
of the greatest favourites in our gardens and

THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 149

grounds are natives of southern Europe, as
anemonies, tulips, iris, asphodel, carnations,
lavender, etc. In Spain, Portugal, and Sicily,
tropical families appear in the oleander, myrtle,
pomegranate, and olive. Cactuses, though not
native, flourish luxuriantly. A gigantic grass
{Arundo donax) rises to the height of twenty
feet and upwards. The Chamcerops humilis
affords the most northerly specimen of the
palm family, and the date palm may occasionally
be seen, but only cultivated, and it does not
produce fruit. This is, indeed, the northerly
limit of the palms.

The banana is frequently found on the banks
of the Guadalquiver, and the lime, the orange,
the citron, and the lemon, grow abundantly, and
perfume the air with their blossoms. They
are generally supposed to be only naturalized
in southern Europe, and that all are originally
natives of Asia. The orange tree is one of
great value, affording a fruit which is not only
exceedingly grateful and wholesome, but one
of such durability, that it can be kept for a
considerable time with less alteration than any
other fruit ; its thick spongy rind, studded
over the surface with innumerable oil recepta-
cles, enabling it to resist both the changes of
the atmosphere, and the evaporation of its
juice. It is the only tropical fruit which can
be imported into this country at so cheap a
rate as to compare in price with our native
ones, and thus, while affording a luxury to
the poor, it is of so delicious a nature, that

150 THE GEOGRAPHr OF PLANTS.

it is not despised by the rich. From the
amount of duty paid, it is calculated that
272,000,000 of oranges are annually imported
into this country. 390,546 chests of oranges
and lemons, besides a considerable number
loose, and a still further quantity which -were
only entered by value, were imported in 1848.
So prolific are the trees, that a single one
in St. Michael’s has been known to produce
20,000 oranges fit for packing, exclusive of
damaged ones and waste, which may be
calculated at a third more. The oranges
intended for exportation are gathered green ;
if they were suflfered to become ripe, they
woirtd spoil on the passage. The orange
harvest commences with October, and ends
with December, a period of about three
months ; to ripen on the tree, they would
require to hang till the spring. It is a
singular fact, that the trees from which the
oranges are gathered green, bear plentifully
every year, but if they hang till ripe, the tree
only bears well every other year. Near
Cordova, there are orange trees six or seven
hundred years old ; in Andalusia, there are
extensive orchards, which formed the principal
source of revenue to the monks for ages ; and
in the south and south-west of Italy, there are
groves of oranges almost amoimting to forests.

Spain and Portugal are the head-quarters of
the Cistus tribe ; no less than twenty-one
species of Cistus, and eighty-three of Ilelian-
themum, being found' there. They are a beau-

THK WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 151

tiful tribe of flowers, appearing in a won-
derful succession, which open every morn-
ing, and fall off before the close of the
day. The gum cistus (G. ladanifeJ'us) is a
well-known and extremely beautiful species ;
it forms extensive groves in the south of Spain
and Portugal, but is not found either in Italy
or Greece. In the north of Italy, rice
reaches its northern limit in Europe. It is
cultivated near Milan, but the employment is
so deleterious to the labourers engaged in it,
that the government has prohibited its further
extension. The Spanish chesnut abounds in
the forests of the south of Europe ; one on
Mount iEtna has long been celebrated, and is
said to be capable of sheltering a hundred
horsemen under its boughs. The cabbage
rose, the damask rose, the laurustinus, the
laurel, (Cei'asus lauro-cei'ams,) the Christmas
rose, {Hellebonis nijej',) the laburnum, the
monkshood, the pa;ony, and the pyramidal
bell-flower, (Oampantda pyramidalis,) so beau-
tiful a pot plant — are all brought from Spain,
Italy, and Turkey. The Dictammis nlbus
(or Fraxinella,) found in this district also,
abounds in volatile oil tc such a degree, that
the atmosphere surrounding it becomes im-
flainmable in hot weather ; and more singular
still, if lighted, it will burn without injuring the
plant. Ptissing into Armenia, we come into the
native region of the vine. Parrot describes it
as the queen of the forests in the woods of
Mingreli and Imereti. The stem there attains

152

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

a thickness of from three to six inches, and it
mounts to the top of the loftiest trees, festooning
them, and binding them to each other.

The vine is generally a native in the
countries lying between the Black and Caspian
Seas ; from whence it would seem to have
found its way into Egypt, Greece, and Sicily ;
and from Sicily to Italy, Spain, France, and
England. In the native countries of the vine
there is no true culture of it, and yet there is
such an abundance of excellent grapes, that
even the poor peasant does not gather all that
grow on his little patch of land, but leaves them
over the winter, and often before Easter the
grapes of the previous year are beaten off
the trees. Very probably the native country
of the vine extends far beyond the Caspian Sea
towards India, and even the north of China.
Humboldt estimates that it can flourish wher-
ever the annual mean temperature is between
50° and 63° Fahr. In America, the most
northerly limit of the vine appears to be the
4()th parallel of latitude. In both hemi-
spheres, it does not seem to flourish nearer the
equator than 30°, except in elevated situations,
where the altitude compensates for the latitude.
In Europe, its northern limit varies ; it reaches
farther north in the interior than on the
western coast. In the west of France it
reaches to 49° N. lat. ; in England it ripens
plenteously only in favourable years ; at Berlin,
53° N. lat.; and at Dantzic, 54° 21' N, lat., it
is freely cultivated. It has even been carried

THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE, 153

above Konigsberg, 54° 42' n, lat. It therefore
occupies a band of about 20° in breadth in the
old world, and about 10° in the new.

In Egypt, its culture appears to have
been carried on from the earliest dates, as
we learn from Scripture, (Gen. xl. 9 — 11.)
It was never, however, grown to a great
extent, as the soil is unfavourable ; the grapes
produced are small, and wine was never, as
it is in south Europe, the common drink
of the people, who used beer from a time
only inferior to the culture of the vine. The
growth of the vine in Palestine, and the prepa-
ration of Avine from it, may be traced to a very
high antiquity. Immediately after the Deluge,
Noah planted a vineyard, and drank of the
wine even to intoxication, (Gen. ix. 20.) Vines
Avere enumerated by IMoses as among the
riches of the promised land, (Deut. viii. 8 ;)
and the spies Avho Avere sent to search the
land, cut doAvn so large a bunch of grapes in
Eshcol, that they carried it suspended on a pole
betAveen tAVO of them, (Num. xiii. 23 ;) the
size and luxuriance of Avhich doubtless asto-
nished the JeAvs, Avho had been accustomed to
see only the small grapes of Egypt. Similar
bunches, Ave are assured by travellers, have
been gathered in Hebron in modern days.
Very numerous are the Scripture references to
the vine, Avhich Ave have not space to detail.

The vineyards, among the JeAvs, A\'ere gene-
rally situated on the south side of a hill, or
mountain, Avhich Avas often cut into terraces for

154

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

the purpose. The vintage was a season of
great rejoicing. Very often the vine was, and
is still, trained over a verandah of trellis-work,
which is often fixed by the side of a well,
inviting the owner and his family to gather
beneath its grateful shade. This beautifully
illustrates the “ fruitful bough by a well,”
Gen. xlix. 22, the emblem of the rich blessings
which were promised to Joseph and his descend-
ants ; and that delightful representation of the
effects of the gospel on the hearts of men, pro-
ducing universal peace, when every man shall
sit “ under his vine and under his fig tree ; and
none shall make them afraid,” Micah iv. 4.
The Phocoeans first carried the vine into the i
south of France ; the Romans planted it on the (
banks of the Rhine.

It is indubitable, that formerly there were i
many and extensive vineyards in this country ;*
they are mentioned in the earliest Saxon
charters, as well as in Doomsday Book. William
of Malmesbury, who flourished in the twelfth
century, mentions a sweet and palatable wine,
little inferior to that of France, which was
made in abundance in the vale of Gloucester.

It is stated that, at Arundel Castle, in Sussex,
the duke of Norfolk had a vineyard, of which
there were in his grace’s cellar, in 1763, about
sixty pipes of excellent Burgundy. About the i
same time, the hon. Charles Hamilton, of

* There is evidence to prove that there were some in the
year a.d. 280, and Bede, writing in 731, speaks of vineyarda
gT'O^ving in several places.

THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 155

Painshill, had a vineyard which succeeded for
many years, and produced excellent champagne.
In mjmy countries, as in Persia, Crete, Min-
grelia, etc., the attempt is made to keep the
grapes on the vines fresh throughout the
greater part of the year, which is, perhaps,
possible in those countries on account of the
great dryness of the winter. A vineyard,
associated as it is with our ideas of beauty
and plenty, generally disappoints the traveller.
A hop garden in Kent is a far more picturesque
object. In France and Spain the vine is seldom
allowed to grow above three or four feet high.
But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry,
surrounding the stone cottage with its girdle,
flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches over
the rustic verandah, and twining its long gar-
land from tree to tree. The number of varieties
of the vine is extraordinary ; but the most
remarkable fact is, that the same variety of
vine often produces two different kinds of wine,
even in places lying close to each other. These
differences are, indeed, inexplicable to us ; we
only are sure that they must be caused by the
locality, but how, we know not. In the cata-
logue of the Luxemburg Garden, at Paris,
fourteen hundred varieties are enumerated ;
about six hundred are cultivated in the gar-
dens of Geneva ; sixty-four varieties are grown
in English gardens ; one hundred and nineteen
in Spain ; and forty-one in the regions of the
Rhine.

It is a remarkable fact, and well worthy of

156

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

oul’ attentive notice, that many of those plants
most valuable to man are precisely those most
disposed to run into varieties. This is remark-
ably the case in one of the most useful fruits of
the temperate zone, the apple, of which IVIr. G.
Don enumerates fourteen hundred varieties cul-
vated in gardens ; and the benevolent intent of
such an arrangement is at once seen, in the
great extension given to the usefulness of the
plant. The Avild apple, or crab, is a harsh,
sour fruit, but from it, by cultivation, this vast
diversity has been developed, affording a combi-
nation of qualities suited to a variety of uses,
and thus making it most extensively applicable
as an article of food and luxury. The same
author gives six hundred and seventy-seven
varieties of the pear, two hundred and seventy-
four of the plum, sixty of the nectarine, and
nineteen of the orange. One hundred and
sixty A'arieties of rice are known in Ceylon
alone. It seems difficult to believe that the
red cabbage, cauliflower, savoy, Brussels’
sprouts, and Avhite cabbage, have all sprung
from the Brassica oleracea, as found on our
shores, Avith its sea-green leaves, no appearance
of a head, and flo Avers like charlock — yet such
is the case. The rose, again, sports into four-
teen hundred varieties, and many of our
favourite garden floAvers, Avhich delight equally
the sight and smell, are similarly disposed.
Hoav bountiful and kind a provision is thus
made by our heavenly Father, to minister to
the AA'ants, comforts, and pleasures of his crea-

TUE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 157

tures ! How true that, though we have sinned
and rebelled against him, he is long-sulfering
and full of compassion, and that “his tender
mercies are over all his works !” But to return.
Immense quantities of grapes are di'ied in vari-
ous countries, and made into raisins, of which
no less than 240,042 cwt. were imported into
England in 1848. The “ currants ” of our
grocers’ shops are the dried grapes of another
variety of vine, (the black corinth,) grown
chiefly in the Ionian Islands, 402,306 cwts.
were imported in 1848.

We owe many of our best fruits and sweetest
flowers to that part of Asia which lies beneath
the wanner temperate zone. In the fruitlul
valleys of Armenia, south of the chain of Cau-
casus, are found whole thickets of lemon, pome-
granate, pear, and cherry trees. Every species
of fruit cultivated in oiur gardens grows there
apparently wild ; but whether they are to be con-
sidered as truly natives of the soil, or as being
the remains of very ancient gardens, is the more
diflicult to determine, as this is just the very
spot which appears to have been first peopled
by the descendants of Noah. The concurring
testimony of both sacred and profane history
leaves us no room to doubt that, from this region,
as from a centre, arts and civilization were
carried to the other regions of the earth, and
among them, probably, the art of gardening ; for,
though we are unacquainted with the original
birthplace of most of our cultivated plants,
history informs us, that some of the most

158 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

valuable productions of our gardens were first
brought into Europe from that fruitful region
between the Euphrates and the Indus, the
Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, It would
be both pleasing and instructive to pursue this
subject, but a hint or two must suffice.

The conquests of the Romans first made
them acquainted with the fruits of the east,
and then they spread them wherever they
directed their victorious arms. They derived
the fig from Syria, the orange and citron from
Media, the peach from Persia, the apricot
from Epirus, the pomegranate from Africa,
the plum, the cherry, and the pear, from
Armenia. A cherry tree, laden with fruit,
adorned the triumph of Lueullus, which he
had brought from Pontus, as a memorial of his
conquest of that province — a sight till then
unknown to the inhabitants of Italy. In less
than a centmy, the same species of cherry
was common in France, Germany, and Eng-
land, where the conquerors had introduced it.
Whatever are the evils of war and conquest —
and they are very fearful — they yet contributed,
in the early stages of society, to diffuse the
knowledge of many an article, and custom, and
art, which have tended powerfully to promote
the advance of civilization. The attachment
which the monks manifested to gardening,
during what are called the dark ages, may be
regarded as another cause of the diffusion of
foreign fruits throughout Europe. In our own
country, and, doubtless, in many other portions

THE WAIiMEIi TEMPERATE ZONE. 159

of the continent, before and long after the con-
quest, the monks appear to have been the only
gardeners ; and many an abbey garden yet
remains, though in ruins, to attest that the
monks, with all their faults, were men of peace
and study, and w'ere doing much to improve
the world, while the warriors were spending
their lives to despoil it.

It was by the labours of missionaries that
European vegetables were introduced into South
America, from one end of the continent to the
other ; and the same course is now pursued by
our missionaries in the South Seas and in South
Africa. Lastl}", commerce has very largely
contributed to the comforts and welfare of man,
by gathering around his dwelling those fruits
which have been scattered by Providence over
the most distant parts of the globe. For nearly
a century and a half this country has, by means
of her widening commerce, ste^ily proceeded
in collecting from every clime and country the
fruits and flowers indigenous to each ; and has
thus provided, even for the poorer classes, com-
forts and luxuries once unknown even to the
W’ealthy of the land ; while it has improved our
tastes, and extended our resources as a nation,
to a degree which w'ould formerly have been
considered impossible, 'ro the same commerce
we owe the potatoe and the pine-apple ; the
China rose, whose flowers cluster around the
cottage porch, and the camellia, which adorns
the conservatory ; the tea, coffee, and sugar,
which are noAV necessaries of life, and the

160

THE OEOGIIAPHY OF PLANTS.

cotton, which is the staple of our manufactures.
But to return from this digression.

The moss rose, the damask rose, the cabbage
rose, and the French rose, which are universal
favourites, are all inhabitants of Persia and
Asia IMinor, where they abound, and are highly
esteemed. “ The delight of the east, the theme
of the poet in all ages, the praises of the rose
have been sung in the language of every nation
where it is known. All virtue, all loveliness,
has been characterized by it ; from the solemn
personification of Scriptime of Him whom ‘ the
preacher’ called ‘ the Rose of Sharon,’ down to
the simile of the humblest minstrel that ever
touched the harp of poesy.” We might have
expected that all Asia, between 30° and 50° lat.,
would have enjoyed a mild climate ; such,
however, is far from being the case, on account
of the structure of the continent, which has the
highest table-lands and the lowest plains on
the globe. The table-land of Thibet, which is
not cultivated, is very sterile, and has a most
unpropitious climate : frost, snow, and sleet,
beginning early in September, and continuing,
with little interruption, until May : snow, in-
deed, falls every month in the year. The air
is always dry, because in winter moisture falls
as snow, and in summer is quickly evaporated
by the intense heat. The thermometer some-
times rises to 144° in the sun ; and even in the
winter his direct rays have great poAver for an
hour or two, so that a variation of 100° has
occurred in the twenty-fox;r hours.

THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE.

IGl

• The most common plants are a species of
furze, prickly shrubs, rhubarb, various species
of gooseberry and currant, hyssop, rose, assafoe-
tida, etc. Three species of wheat, three of
barley, and two of buck-wheat, are natives of
the lofty table-land, but European grain and
fruits can only be ciiltivated here and there, in
sheltered spots. Here, also, grows the Prangos
pabnlaria, an umbelliferous plant, with scented
blossoms, of vast value as fodder for sheep. It
is capable of flourishing on the most inferior
lands, unfit for anything else, and is so nutritious,
that sheep Avill become fat on it in twenty days.
Another valuable property it possesses is, that it
is fatal to the liver-fluke, {Fasciola hepatica,')
which, in England, after a Avet autumn, destroys
some thousands of sheep by the rot, a disease
Avhich has hitherto proved incurable. It is very
hardy, most abundant in its produce, and pro-
mises, at no distant day, to be one of the most
valuable kinds of winter fodder ever brought
into cultivation.

In Japan, and the eastern countries of Asia,
figs, oranges, pomegranates, wheat, oats, rice,
etc., are exceedingly productive. Here, too,
Asiatic species of buckthorn and honeysuckle
are so numerous, as to give a peculiar character
to the vegetation. Intermixed with these, and
Avith roses, are thickets of azaleas, of dazzling
brightness and beauty. In the United States,
several nuignolias, the beautiful tulip tree,
(Liriodendron,) and a number of noble species
of the mimosa tribe, occ’ur in this zone, one of

F

1G2 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

■which, Rohinia pseudacacia, is very commonly
cultivated in this country, and is known by the
name of thorn acacia. It is a very fast growing
tree, and, when in blossom, is very elegant, with
its abundant - bunches of white sweet-scented
blossoms, resembling those of the laburnum,
except in colour. It is highly valued in Ame-
rica for its timber, which is very durable, and is
often employed in ship-building, being con-
sidered scarcely inferior in any respect to Eng-
lish oak. Another species, (Robinia hispida,) is
an exceedingly ornamental plant in shrubberies,
growing from three to six feet high, and with
beautiful clusters of large rose-coloured blossoms.

In the forests of the Missouri, above St.
Louis, appear thorny roses, which ascend to the
top of the highest trees, and adorn them with
countless red flowers. The autumnal tints of
the forests in the middle States are beautiful,
and of endless variety ; the dark leaves of the
evergreen pine, the red foliage of the maple, the
yellow beech, the scarlet oak, and the purple
nyssa, with all their intermediate tints, ever
changing with the light and distance, produce
an effect at sunset that would astonish the
native of a country with a more sober coloured
flora, under a more cloudy sky. Kalmias,
hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and azaleas, with a
large variety of timber trees, many of which are
little known in this country, are some of the
most interesting plants of the'United States flora,
which is nearly twice as rich in species as that
of Britain.

THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 163

Maize, or Indian corn, is the only grain indi-
genous to America, and it is a native there only.
Before the arrival of Europeans, it was the chief
corn plant of the new world, and, in some parts,
(the tropical ones especially) is so still. 'It thrives
best in the hottest and dampest tropical climates,
where it sometimes brings forth eight hundred-
fold, and in less fertile lauds three hundred to four
hundred-fold. It will not succeed in America
higher than 40° N. lat., though in Europe it
reaches 4.5^° on the west coast, on the Khine 49°,
and in Prussia 52°. From the low mean heat of
the summer in England, it is evident its cultiva-
tion will not succeed in this country, although
it may occasionally ripen ; it will, however, be in
the recollection of many, that the late William
Cobbett Avas very enthusiastic for its general
culture in our land. In Asia, maize is exten-
sively cultivated, especially in India, China,
Japan, Sumatra, and the Phillippine Islands,
having been, no doubt, introduced from Ame-
rica, but in Avhat way is not known. So gene-
rally is it used in Mexico, that at the beginning
of this century, above 1,600,000,000 pounds
were consumed by a population of not more than
5,000,000, equal to 320 pounds a year for each
person. A considerable quantity is consumed
in this country. In 1847, 3,608,312 quarters
were imported, besides 1,448,837 cwts. of
Indian corn meal, though this was larger than
usual on account of the distress in Ireland. An
ardent spirit, resembling brandy, is obtained
from the juice of the stalks.

164 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

In Chili and Patagonia, an elegant and tall
tree of the pine tribe {Araucaria imhricata)
forms extensive forests, and produces cones the
size of a child’s head, which supply the natives
with a great part of their food. It is said that
the fruit of one large tree will maintain eighteen
persons for a year. A very remarkable cir-
cumstance attends the burning down of such
primeval forests, a circniustance w'hich not
unfrequently takes place in these and other
parts of America on both sides of the equa-
tor. The same kind of trees as those Avhich
formed the original forest never re-appear,
but some other species, which had j)reviously
been strange to the spot, spring up instead of
them. Thus, in Patagonia, if one of these
pine forests be burned, the ground on which it
grew is soon covered with an impenetrable
brushwood of other plants. In Chili, the vio-
lently stinging, but beautiful climbing loasa,
appears first in these burned places, bushes grow
afterw'ards, and then comes a tree grass, eighteen
feet high, of which the Indians make their nets.
In Pennsylvania, when the ancient forests are
burned, they are succeeded by a thick underwood
of rhododendrons. In each of these instances,
the primitive forest had no undergrowth, and in
each, also, the kind of plant which appears as a
successor is constant, according to the character
of the forest destroyed, and the country where
situate. A somewhat similar circumstance
occurred in this country after the great fire in
London, in 1666 ; a great quantity of Sisyfii-

THE WAllMER TEMPERATE ZONE,

165

hnum trio, or London rocket, sprang up all over
the ruins, though previously it was a very rare
plant, and is so now.

In New Zealand, many singular and elegant
plants are found. Noble trees form immense
forests, sixty of which yield timber of the finest
quality, and many are of kinds to which we
have nothing similar. Oaks, birches, and wil-
lows, are entirely absent ; but there are some
species of the fir tribe and beech peculiar to
the country. The New Zealand flax (Fhor-
mium tenax) is found abundantly on the moun-
tains and plains, and great quantities are ex-
ported to this country, where it is much used,
especially for twine, its fibre being stronger
than that of ordinary flax. One hundred and
forty species of ferns, and a species of fuchsia,
together with a metrosideros with crimson
blossoms, adorn the country. This latter grows
to a very great size, and sends shoots from its
trunk and branches to the ground, which
become so massive that they support the old
stem, which seems to die ; it is, in fact, an
enormous epiphyte, growing to, instead of from
the ground.

In Van Diemen’s Land, eucalyptus trees of
enormous dimensions abound, as in Australia, but
of still greater height, many towering to a height
much exceeding that of the Monument. One
prostrate tree was measured, which was two hun-
dred feet to the first branch, a second cut into
rails was one hundred and eighty feet long, a third
was so large that it could not be cut into lengths

166 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

for splitting. When the Emeu Bay forest was
surveyed, one acre was found to contain 2,384
trees, and another 1,976. Many of these trees
are forty, fifty, or fifty-five feet in circum-
ference. Of one of these, fifty-five and a half feet
round, Llr. Backhouse says : “ ISIy companions
spoke to each other when at the opposite side of
the tree to myself, and their voices sounded
so distant, that I concluded they had inad-
vertently left me to see some other object, and
immediately called to them. The}'’, in reply,
I’emarked the distant sound of my voice, and
asked if I were behind the tree ! When the
road through this forest was forming, a man,
who had only about two hundred yards to go
from one company of the work-people to an-
other, lost himself ; he called, and was repeat-
edly answered, but getting further astra}', his
voice became more indistinct till it ceased to be
heard, and he perished.” Tree ferns grow here
in all their glory, most beautiful with their
princely crests of fronds, many of which are
thirteen feet in length. Acacias, epacris, bank-
sias, grass trees, and asters, are abundant, and
show its close affinity with the vegetation of
Australia.

5. T'he Colder Temperate Zone includes that
portion of both hemis23heres which lies between
45° and 58°. This zone embraces the British
Isles, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland,
Prussia, Austria, Germany, Denmark, and
southern Russia ; in Asia — northern Tartary,
^longolia, southern Siberia, and Kamschatka ;

THE COLDER TEJEPERATE ZONE. 167

in America — part of Columbia, Newfoundland,
and the British territory ; the south of Pata-
gonia, Terra del Fuego, and the Falkland
Islands. The mean annual temperature is
between 42° and 53°. Deciduous trees are a
characteristic feature of this zone in Europe, as
evergreen ones were of the last. The chief
forests are composed of oak, elm, beech, pine,
fir, lime, etc., while willows of many species
abound in the moist and marshy lands. The
oak is found as far north as 63° at Drontheim,
in Nonvay ; on the confines of Asia it ceases
to grow at 57^° lat., and on the east of Asia
it has its northern limits on the banks of the
Argoun 51 5° n. lat., eight hundred miles
nearer to the equator than its limits in western
Europe.

The oak is the most valuable timber tree of
this zone for strength, durability, and general
usefulness. One, which was felled in 1810 for
the use of the navy, contained 2,426 cubic feet
of sound and convertible timber. The bark
was estimated at six tons ; five men were em-
ployed twenty days in cutting down and ship-
ping it, and two sawyers were engaged for five
months in cutting it up. The whole produce of
the tree when brought to market was nearly
£600. It will not flourish in tropical climates.
Bishop Heber mentions that, in the Botanic
Garden at Calcutta, he saw what excited a me-
lancholy kind of interest — a little wretched oak,
kept alive with difficulty under a sky and in a
temperature so perpetually stimulating, that no

168

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS,

time was allowed it to shed its leaves, or recruit
its powers by hybernation.

We have not space now to enter into details
respecting our other forest trees ; we may just
state, that the birch ceases on the coast of Nor-
way at 71°; the beech at 58°: the sycamore and
the ash at 63°; the lime occurs in Russia at 60°;
the elm and maple at 57°. This, too, is the
region of our corn plants. Wheat does not
succeed beyond 63° n. lat., and in Russia not
beyond 60°; in Kamschatka the limit is 51°.
On the oast of America, corn does not extend
beyond 52°. Barley sometimes ripens in fa-
vourable summers as high as 70° in Norway.
Nor does the cidtivation of our corn plants
succeed better in the torrid zone than in polar
regions, except in elevated spots, where the lieat
is moderated by the altitude. We know nothing
respecting the original place of growth of the
cerealia ; though there is every reason to
believe that their cultivation is coeval with the
existence of man upon the earth. Within the
temperate zones their cultivation is all but
universal, and in the more favourable situa-
tions, such as Egypt, etc., its produce is very
great. Humboldt mentions wheat plants in
INIexico which sent up forty, sixty, or seventy
stalks, the ears of which were almost equally
well filled, and contained one hundred to one
hundred and twenty grains each.

Some of the distinguishing plants of this
zone, in Europe, are the cruciform plants; such
as the mustard, cress, wall-fiower, stock, cab-

THE COLDER TEMPERATE ZONE.

169

bage, turnip, sea-kalo, candy-tuft, radish, etc. ;
the umbelliferous tribe, as carrots, carra-
ways, parsley, parsnip, celery, hemlock, etc. ;
the Caryophillece, a class including the pink,
carnation, lychnis, catchfly, duckweed, etc. ;
the Campanulas, and a division of the composite
plants, including endive, hawkweed, dandelion,
sowthistle, and a great variety of plants of
a similar structure. The extensive heaths
already alluded to, covered with our common
heath or ling, (Callima vvlgaris,) form a
remarkable feature in the European part of
this region. In that part of Asia which lies
in the colder temperate zone, vast plains cha-
racterize it, called steppes ; these are generally
barren tracts, often strongly impregnated with
salt, and abounding in salt lakes and pools,
with a stunted and scattered vegetation. Here
and there are more fertile spots, where trees
and food plants grow, but they are like the
oases of the desert. Species of saltwort, (Salsola,)
tamarisk, sea lavender, (^Statice,) liquorice,
vetches, and wormwood, are among the pre-
vailing steppe plants.

In that portion of the soiithern hemisphere
belonging to this zone, the southern part of
Patagonia, the Falkland Isles, Terra delFuego,
Kerguelen’s Land, and Prince Edward’s Island,
with a few other very small detached islands,
are all the land. On these vegetation rapidly
diminishes as they approximate to the antarctic
circle ; and it is a well-ascertained fact, that
the temperature decreases much more rapidly

F 2

170 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

from the equator towards the south pole than
towards the north. Vegetation decreases as
the latitude increases, till at length utter deso-
lation reigns. This is partly owing to the
want of heat in summer and more than to the
greater cold in winter. In high northern lati-
tudes, the power of the summer sun is so great
as to melt the pitch between the planks of the
vessels ; Avhile, in corresponding southern lati-
tudes, the thermometer does not rise above 14°
(18° below the freezing point) at noon, in a
season corresponding to our August. Sand-
wich Land, in a latitude corresponding to the
north of Scotland, is perpetually covered with
many fathoms of snow. The south Shetland
Isles have but one flowering plant, a grass,
(^Aira antarclica,') and are no less ice-bound
than the last ; Avhile the Shetland Isles, in the
north of Scotland, in an equally high latitude,
are both inhabited and cultivated. South
Georgia, in the same latitude as Yorkshire, but
south, is always clad in frozen snow, and pro-
duces only a few lichens, mosses, and W'ild
burnet ; while Iceland, ten degrees nearer the
pole in the northern hemisphere, has eight
hundred and seventy species, more than half of
which are flowering plants. But a few degrees
makes a great difference in the southern hemi-
sphere. Terra del Fuego, only six degrees
nearer the equator than the frozen south Shet-
land, is clad with dense forests of winter’s bark
and beech. Species of arbutus, myrtle, bar-
berry, currant, and fuchsia ; and calceolarias,

THE COLDER TEJIPERATE ZONE. 171

violets, crowfoots, plants of the cruciform and
pink tribes, thrift, and celery, are among the
most conspicuous of the herbaceous plants.

It is singular that, in this distant island, there
are a greater number of plants identical with
those of the British isles than in any other
country of the southern hemisphere : thirty
three flowering plants, and forty-eight mosses,
with nearly all the lichens, being common to
both, though principally absent from the inter-
mediate latitudes. On the Falkland Islands,
though in a lower latitude, not a tree is to be
seen, and the only large shrub, Veronica ellip-
tica, is very rare. Two plants, however, are
peculiar to these islands. One of these, the
balsam bog, (Bolax globaria,) is an umbellife-
rous plant, but of very peculiar habit. It
grows in tufted and very firm hemispherical
masses, of a yellow green colour, often four
feet high, and as many in diameter ; a strong-
smelling resinous substance exudes from it,
perceptible at a distance. The tussack grass
{Festuca flahellata) is a still more singular
plant, but yet the most useful in the islands.
Each tussack is a separate plant, occupying
about two square yards of ground. It forms a
hillock of matted roots, rising straight and
solitary out of the soil, often six feet high, and
four or five in diameter, from the top of which
issues a thick grassy foliage of blades, six feet
long, drooping on all sides, and forming with
the leaves of the adjacent plants an arch over
the ground beneath it, which affords shelter to

172 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

sea lions, penguins, and petrels. Cattle are
exceedingly fond of this grass, which yields
annually a much greater supply of excellent
fodder than the same extent of ground would
do either of common grass or clover.

5. The Sith-arctic Zone stretches, from 58°
lat. to the arctic circle, and its average mean
temperature is between 39° and 42° Fahr., but
this varies exceedingly in different localities.
It embraces in the northern hemisphere, Nor-
way, Sweden, Finland, the north of Fussia,
Iceland, part of Siberia, the more northerly
portion of North America, and the south of
Greenland ; in the southern hemisphere, only a
few barren and small islands extend into this
zone. It is the region of the firs and willows ;
the beech, oak, and pine, or Scotch fir, will not
flourish within it, or rather not beyond G0°
N. lat., though on the western coast of Norway,
under peculiar circumstances, the pine has
been found as far as 70° n. lat. In the interior,
the noble fir appears in its place. Prodigious
forests of these are spread over the mountains
of Norway and Sweden ; and in European
Russia alone, 200,000,000 acres are clothed
Avith pines and firs alone, or occasionally mixed
Avith AvilloAv, pojAlars, and alders. In very
many places, on both the SAvedish and Norwe-
gian mountains, these forests are not accessible,
and they are of A%alue only Avhen situated near
a river, or an arm of the sea. The Gulf of
Bothnia is surrounded by one vast, contiguous,
unbroken forest, as old as the Avorld, and con-

THE SUU-AUCTIC ZONE.

173

sisting chiefly of pines. From these countries
we derive our best deal timber ; red (or yellow)
deal, which is most valued, being the produce
of the Scotch fir, (Pinus sylvestris ;) the white
deal comes from the spruce fir, (P/nws abies.)
When the markets of the Baltic were closed
during the war, an enterprising individual con-
ceived the daring idea of turning the immense
forests of pines on the mountains of Switzer-
land to the purposes of commerce. This he
actually effected by contriving an immense
trough, formed of 25,000 pine trees, six feet
broad, and from three to six feet deep, and
44,000 English feet in length. Along this,
constantly kept moist, the pines descended
from the mountains into the lake of Lucerne, a
distance of between eight and nine miles.

The larger pines, which were about one
hundred feet long, ran through the space in
about six minutes. The markets of the
Baltic having been once more opened by the
peace, the speculation was abandoned as
unprofitable. Turpentine and tar are also
two important products of the fir tribe. The
former is the thick, glutinous sap, which is
abundantly poured out when the trees are
pierced near the ground. AVhen distilled,
spirits of turpentine come over, while the
solid residuum is resin. 392,942 cwts. of
turpentine were imported in 1848. Tar is
procured by heating billets of the wood in a
kind of rude oven ; the tar oozes out, and is
collected in a reservoir below. The ancient

174

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

Greeks extracted their tur ia precisely the
same way as do the Bothnians at this day.
150,888 barrels of tar were imported in 1848,
each barrel containing thirty-one and a half
gallons. The climate and productions of
Norway and Sweden cannot be taken, how-
ever, as a fair specimen of the vegetation of
this zone ; as, from their peninsular character,
they enjoy a much warmer temperature than
almost any other country within its limit.
Even here, however, the apple ceases at G3^°,
the cherry at 63°, and the pear at 62°. The
vegetation of Iceland in the meadows and
pastures is much the same as our own ; there
is, however, a total want of trees, for the birch
and alder, though abundant, attain but a small
height. Corn is cultivated to a very trifling
extent, often not at all for a long series of
years, for, towards the end of summer, the
weather is so changeable that the grain seldom
ripens. The sea pea (which we have already
noticed) is used as an article of food, and they
are said to be very -well flavoured. The prin-
cipal vegetables, such as cauliflower, potatoe,
turnip, etc., succeed. Many of the sea-weeds
are collected, and used as food. The Iceland
moss (Ceti'aria Islandica) is also gathered for
food ; it grows in great quantities, and is
collected from the same grounds every three
years. The bitterness of the plant is extracted
by soaking it in water, and it is then eaten, gene-
rally boiled with milk ; a kind of bread is also
made of it. The time of gathering the Iceland

THE ARCTIC ZONE.

175

moss is like a merry harvest-time. In Siberia,
vast forests of firs appear ; while in Kams-
chatka, similar forests are found of the birch.
Many of the smaller plants are similar to our
own. The juniper abounds, and the dog-rose,
the Scotch rose, the red currant, the hawthorn,
the white poplar, the mountain ash, and others,
are found wild in Kamschatka as well as in our
own coimtry. On the shores of Hudson’s Bay,
it is said no trees are found north of 60°.

7. The Arctic Zone embraces a still smaller
belt than the sub-arctic zone. It extends
from the arctic circles to 72° lat. Its mean
temperature is not certainly known ; • it may
be at the maximum 35° Fahr. ; but in the
colder part of this zone it is much lower, often
below the freezing point. It embraces Lapland,
the LofFoden Islands, Nova Zembla, and the
extreme north of Siberia, part of Greenland,
and the extreme north of North America, of
which very little is known ; and in the south-
ern hemisphere a few islands in G8°lat,, of
whose vegetation we know nothing, if, indeed,
they have any. As we have witnessed the
luxuriance, abimdance, and splendour of the
plants in the tropical parts of our globe, so we
find, as we approach the poles, the reverse is
the case. A green turf is not quite wanting,
though only scantily seen ; while vast and
dreary tracts are covered with lichens, and
others are occupied with immense forests
of fir.

The lichens are some of the first vegetable

176 THE GEOGKAl’HV OF I’LANTS,

forms seen below the limit of perpetual snow,
either in altitude or latitude. They will grow
almost everywhere where they can obtain
moisture, even on rocks, trees, or the barest
ground. 2,400 species are known, and no
plants are more widely diffused. Some pro-
duce brilliant dyes — red, orange, and brown ;
and one, {Gyrophoi'a,) the “ tripe de roche" of
arctic travellers, is employed in these regions
as a miserable substitute for food. Mosses,
too, accompany lichens all over the world,
but especially in temperate climes ; and out of
1,100 known species, a great part inhabit this
zone, and constitute a large portion of the
vegetation. A number of flowering plants,
some of pretty and elegant forms, many ot
which are the same as those Avhich grow on
the alpine heights of England, Scotland, and
middle Eiu'ope, here grow in the meadows and
down to the sea level. They are chiefly of
very low growth and large flowers. Agricul-
ture is not altogether stopped, for, in the Scan-
dinavian peninsula, barley and rye are
cultivated; barley as high as 70°; rye, on
the western side, to 64°, on the eastern to 6.5°
or 66°. The dry and barren fields are covered
with incredible quantities of lichens, among
•which the rein-deer moss {Cladonia rangiferina)
covers the most extensive surfaces with a
matting, over which it is very fatiguing to travel
in summer, w'hen the plants are dried up by
the perpetual sunshine.

In the elevated regions of Lapland, the trees

Tllli POLAU ZONE.

177

which are found to approach nearest the limit
of perpetual snow are the dwarf birch, {Betula
nana,) and the dwarf willow, {Salix herbacea,)
though they arc so small that they can scarcely
be denominated trees. The dwarf birch seldom
exceeds two or three feet in height, though it
is said that at the island of Hammerfest, lat.
70° 40', in the sheltered hollows, it rises to the
height of a man. In Lapland, at the height of
two thousand five hundred feet, it finds just
sufficient warmth about the end of June to put
forth three leaves from each bud, which, in a
few weeks, wither and fall off again ; but this
feeble effort suffices to preserve the life of the
plant. In Asiatic Siberia, north of 60°, the
ground is perpetually frozen at a very small
depth below the sui'face ; a temperature of 70°
below zero is not uncommon, and in some in-
stances it has been 120°. Then it is fatal to
animal life, especially if accompanied with wind.
In Nova Zembla, the vegetation is so stunted
that it barely covers the ground. The woody
plants, such as the dwarf birch and the reticu-
lated willow, {Salix reticulata,) with a very few
berry-bearing shrubs, trail along the ground,
never rising more than an inch or t\Vo above it.
The woolly-leaved willow (Salix lanata) is the
giant of these northern forests, though it never
grows more than five inches above the surface,
while its trailing stem, ten or twelve feet long,
lies hid among the moss.

8. The Polar Zone, including all above 72°
of N. lut. to the pole. No trees or bushes grow

178 THE geoghaphy of plants.

in these cold regions, where cultivation of any
plant for food is impossible, for the mean tem-
perature is far below the freezing point, and
the summer lasts only from four to six weeks.
Here the year is divided into one long intensely
cold night and one bright and fervid day, which
quickly brings to maturity the scanty vegetation,
Spitzbergen and the north of Greenland are the
chief lands included in it. Most of this zone is
covered with perpetual ice and snow, on which no
vegetable, except the singular red snow fungus,
is ever found ; and even on the few j)ortions of
land left uncovered by these, extreme poverty
is their character, whole tracts being entirely
destitute of vegetation, and in others, the little,
and sometimes very pretty plants, grow in turf-
like patches. Some of the plants are peculiar
to the polar regions, others grow even in our
own country. Some of the principal plants are
species of saxifrage, poppy, rush, scurvy-grass,
ranunculus, cotton-grass, willow, etc.

THE INFLUENCE OF ALTITUDE.

179

CHAPTER V.

Influence of altitude— Regions— Divine wisdom and benevo-
lence— Poisonous plants— Tbe resurrection.

Those who have ascended mountains, or those
who have perused the narratives of the ascent
of Mont Blanc, the Peak of Teneriffe, or similar
elevations, must be well aware, that, be the
temperature of the country at its base ever so
warm, a sensible diminution of heat is felt as
we rise from the plain ; and in proportion to
the height attained the heat diminishes, till at
length an elevation is I'eached, at which, even
in the height of summer, water remains per-
petually frozen, and nought but snow and ice
cover the ground. The point at which this
phenomenon first occurs is called the snow line,
or limit of perpetual snow. This limit is found
at various heights, according to the latitude,
nearness to the sea, and whatever else may
affect the general climate of the place.

In the Himalayan Mountains of Asia, and
the Andes of South America, the snow line is
found at an elevation of 15,000 to 17,000 feet
above the level of the sea ; on Cotopaxi, at
15,646 feet ; on Chimborazo, at 16,000 feet.
More northerly, we find it, on Mount Ararat,

180 THE GEOGUAPHV OF TLANTS.

13,441 leet ; on the mountains of Caucasus,
10,602 feet ; on the Appenines, 9,231 feet ;
on the Swiss Alps, 8,500 feet ; on the moun-
tains of Norway and Sweden, 5,019 feet; in
Iceland, 2,642 feet; at the North Cape, 2,275
feet ; while, near the pole itself, it is nearly on
the sea level, snow and ice being there per-
petual. There are, however, a few partial ex-
ceptions to this rule. The volcano of Arequipa,
which rises to an elevation of 18,000 feet above
the level of the sea, shows but a very little
snow on one side of its highest point. In the
Himalayan Mountains, in the Nutro Pass, at a
height of 16,840 feet, there is no permanent
snow. The whole western part of the Himalayas
is as high as from 12,000 to 18,000 feet, and
yet but a very little snow is seen there, and
the vegetation ascends almost as high as 16,000
feet. It will be evident, therefore, on a moment’s
consideration, that even at the equator itself,
in the midst of the torrid zone, a mountain
of sufficient height may have every variety of
climate at its foot, graduating into temperate in
its higher regions, and this, by degrees, passing
into arctic, and even a polar temperature at
its summit.

Our survey of the vegetation of these various
climes will have prepared us already to antici-
pate most of those which distinguish the various
regions which succeed one another as we ascend.
Our notice of each will, therefore, be very brief.
We may just remark, that in some of the
Andes, the whole of these regions may be seen

REGIONS.

181

exemplified on a single mountain, which thu.s
epitomizes, in a manner, the flora of the whole
earth.

On mountains situated at a distance from the
equator, the vegetation at their base will be
the same as that of the zone in which they are
situate : thus, the Peak of TenerifFe, in the
sub-tropical zone, is at foot well cultivated,
and produces date palms, olives, vines, plan-
tains, etc., extending to a height of 1,200 to
1,800 feet. The second zone produces laurels,
and many plants with showy flowers, and
reaches the height of 5,7 GO feet above the sea.
The third zone is the region of pines, (^Abietince,)
extending 2,550 feet further. Above this is a
tract of broom, and then one of grasses and
cryptogamic plants, scantily covering the heaps
of lava. Tournefort also mentions of Mount
Ararat, that at its foot were the plants of
Armenia, above these such as were natives
of a climate like that of France, higher still
he was surrounded with Swedish species, and
at the summit with polar plants.

1. We may characterize the region from the
level of the sea to an altitude of 1,900 feet, (in
the equatorial zone,) as that of palms and
bananas corresponding with the equinoctial zone.
Here we find gigantic fig trees, the innumerable
offshoots of which form qtiite a forest, which yet
remain in the closest union with the parent
tree. Wherever there is a good rich soil, palms,
bananas, cardamoms, and plants of the ginger
tribe abound ; and, in America, the cereus form

182 THE GEOGKAPHY OF PLANTS.

of cacti, and the cactus-like euphorbias, which
we have before described, begin here. As the
height increases, the palms become fewer, the
bananas diminish in size, the ginger tribe dis-
appear, but the orchidese and flowering parasites
become more numerous, and we approach —

2. The region of tree ferns and figs, from an
altitude of 1,900 feet to 3, GOO or 3,800 feet, and
answering in some measure to the tropical zone.
The tree ferns will not flourish, however, but in
a very damp climate ; in barren soil or a dry
atmosphere they are quite wanting. "NVe have
already attempted to give some account of this
singularly beautiful tribe of plants, which cap-
tivate the eye of every traveller in those regions.
On the American mountains, the cinchonce (or
trees yielding Peruvian bark) here begin to
appear, though they extend upwards through
the two next regions as well. This plant is
of very great importance in medicine, about
200,000 pounds being annually imported into
this country. Quinine is extracted from it.
Various species of fig, pepper, passion flowers as
tall and as thick as our oaks, bread fruit, calce-
olarias, etc., abound in this region.

3. The region of the myrtles and laurels,
from 3,800 ieet to 5,700 feet. Here myrtles,
camellias, magnolias, heaths, and acacias abound,
and form some of the most striking features in
the vegetation. The cultivation of the banana
extends within this region. Trees of the fig
tribe appear at the height of 3,000 feet on the
mountains of Java, together with the curious

REGIONS. 183

pitcher plant, rhododendrons, shrubby ferns,
and orchis plants.

4. Eegion of the evergreen dicotyledonous
trees, from 5,700 to 7,600 feet, corresponding
to the warmer temperate zone. On the moun-
tains of Java the laurel forests ascend to 7,000
feet ; above this they diminish in size and
beauty. Here, too, the evergreen oaks occur,
the olive, and the beautiful tree heath, (^Erica
arborea.) At this altitude, on the Himalaya
Mountains, scarlet and other rhododendrons
grow luxuriantly ; walnuts, and at least twenty-
five species of oak abound, one of which (Quer-
cus semicarpi/olia) has a clear trunk eighty to
one hundred feet high.

5. Eegion of dicotyledonous trees, from
7,000 to 9,500 feet, (corresponding to the colder
temperate zone,) where majestic oaks and
beeches are the ornaments of the forests. These
trees are often wanting on the mountain
heights, and, instead of them, this region is
sometimes barren. Some of the fir tribe
appear on the mountains in this region, but are
more abundant in the —

6. Eegion of Abietince, (firs and pines,) ex-
tending from 9,500 to 11,500 feet. The occi-
dental pine, which forms large forests, abounds
in this region, on the mountains of Mexico ;
and the yucca, or Adam’s needle, forms whole
woods in the same parts of that country, single
plants rising to the height of thirty feet. Agaves
and some species of cactus also abound, with
oaks, and some species of arbutus, (strawberry

181

THE CEOGRArilY OF PLANTS.

tree.) On the Peak of TenerifFe, which is in
the sub-tropical zone, this region extends to
8,000 feet. On the Appenines and Alps, it
extends from 3,800 feet to 5,700 feet. On the
Harz Mountains, in Germany, it does not reach
beyond 3,800 feet, while in the sub-arctic zone
it only ascends to 1,200 feet.

7. Eegion of rhododendrons, or lower alpine
region, from 11,500 to 13,300 feet. The rho-
dodendrons, which are well known in almost
every garden, are the special ornaments and
features of this region, and abound in almost
every district of it in Europe. One of the
common species {Rhododendron ponticiivi) is
said to have been the plant from which the
bees of Pontus collected the honey that pro-
duced the extraordinary symptoms of poisoning,
described as having attacked the Greek soldiers
in the famous retreat of the ten thousand.
Xenophon says, that after eating it the men fell
stupihed in all directions, so that the camp
looked like a battle-field strewed with corpses.
Dwarf species of willow also abound in this
region.

8. Region of alpine plants, which grow
from the upper limit of the last region uj) to
the line of perpetual snow, where all vegetation
ceases. Most of the alpine plants are peren-
nial, and many of them are singularly tenacious
of life. Many of them are beautiful plants,
especially the brilliant gentians, which are the
glory of alpine heights ; there are some species,
which cover the sides of hills with blossoms of

DIVINE BENEVOLENCE.

185

such intense brilliancy that the eye can scarcely,
rest upon them. A great variety of plants,
■with large blossoms, adorn the heights of this
region, among which are prominent the lovely
anemones, various species of primroses, etc.,
and on the South American mountains, inimu-
lus, (monkey flowers and musk plants,) calceo-
larias, lupins, and several species of sida, a
genus allied to the mallows, but with remark-
ably beautiful and large flowers.

“ Tree nor slinib,

Dare that drear atmosphere : no polar pine
Uprears a veteran front : yet there ye stand
Leaning your cheeks against the thick ribb’d ice,

And looking up with brilliant eyes to Him
Who bids you uloom, unblanched, amid the waste
Of desolation.”

We have now glanced rapidly at the won-
derful diversity of vegetable life with which our
bountiful Creator has clothed this earth, and
have endeavoured to explain the most impor-
tant of the known causes which regulate their
distribution. But, however interesting such
inquiries may be, there remains for our con-
sideration the great practical lessons which
these investigations properly suggest, and
without a due regard to which all scientific
pursuits are “vanity.” We see exemplified, in
a very remarkable manner, the goodness and
■wisdom of our heavenly Father. I low won-
derfully varied are the vegetable productions of
our globe, and how marvellous is the wisdom
which, out of one form of life, can produce so
astonishing a number of species, performing

186

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

functions of such essential importance in the
economy of the globe, and ministering so ex-
tensively to the necessities, comforts, and plea-
sures of the creatures that inhabit it ! How
amazing is the law by Avhich the whole vege-
table kingdom becomes, by the functions of
respiration and assimilation, the purifier and
preserver of the atmosphere ! Infinite wisdom
is apparent everywhere ; and how lamentable
is it, that so many scientific men should en-
deavour, by a philosophy “ falsely so called,”
to account for the wonders of our world with-
out reference to a Creator : so true is the
Scripture, “ They did not like to retain God in
their thoughts.” These insidious arguments
are continually being advanced, both in Ger-
many and our own country, by men of high
scientific reputation ; but it becomes us to
receive their statements with caution, remem-
bering that the works of God can never con-
tradict his word. Infinite benevolence, too,
is as apparent as perfect wisdom. The distri-
bution of the plants most useful to man over
our globe, is such as is calculated, in the best
possible manner, to develop commercial rela-
tions. Thus, while nations are rendered de-
pendent on one another for many necessaries,
a means is afforded, by the constant communi-
cations thus required, for the rapid extension
of religion and civilization to distant countries,
while this mutual dependence makes the pre-
servation of peace their interest. The distri-
bution of the food plants of our globe, and the

DIVINE BENEVOLENCE.

187

precise adaptation of the species which succeed
best in each country to the wants and condition
of its inhabitants, are most beautiful instances
of His providence, who “ giveth food to all flesh :
for his mercy endureth for ever.” While many
of the comparatively less important fruits,
such as the orange, banana, mango, peach,
cocoa-nut, etc., are more restricted in their limit
of growth, few plants have such a range as
the most important of the cerealia — Avheat and
barley. And as God has so formed our bodies
that bread is to be their main support, so he
has given to the corn plants a capability of
bearing extremes of temperature which few
other plants possess. Surely this may teach
us to trust in him for our daily wants, for
while such a supply is made for man and beast,
he who thus feeds the fowls of the air and
the beasts of the field will never suffer his
children to want any needful good.

This abundant and suitable provision made
for the food of man in the vegetable kingdom,
may also lead us to think of that “ Bread Avhich
came down from heaven,” of which, if a man
eat, he shall live for ever ; for surely, if we re-
quire daily food to support our bodies, our souls
stand in greater need of constantly living by
faith on Jesus Christ, the Son of God. While
our fervent prayer is, “ Lord, evermore give us
this bread,” let us regulate our expectations by
the assurance, that the same bounty which is
displayed in creation is engaged also in dis-
pensing the riches of grace ; nor is the supply

188

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

thus niercifiilly afforded less suited to promote
our spiritual health and happiness, than is our
daily bread to the nourishment of the body.
Nor is this the only analogy suggested by a
view of those benevolent arrangements of the
Creator, which we have been contemplating.
]\Iost of our best medicines arc derived from
plants, and the large number of these, in almost
all countries, is a remarkable proof of the good-
ness of God, in thus providing for the cure or
relief of the many maladies to which the human
frame is liable. It is w'orthy of notice, that some
of the most active medicinal plants are very
abundant in those countries in which the diseases
for which they are efficacious are chieffy preva-
lent ; such as the Peruvian and winter’s bark, in
South America, and others. Who can forget, in
connexion with these facts, the prophet’s earnest
appeal — “ Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there
no physician there? why then is not the health
of the daughter of my people recovered ? ” Of
all the diseases that affect the body of man,
none is so awful in its consequences, or so
deeply seated in its nature, as that of sin in the
soul; and if the remedy be not applied, this
malady will prove inevitably fatal. But there
is a remedy — a soA^ereign specific — an unfailing
cure — and it is this. The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin. Every soul is afflicted
Avith this disease, and for every soul is the
remedy provided. There is no other ; “ for
there is none other name under heaven given
among men, Avhereby Ave must be saved” —

POISONOUS PLANTS. 189

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved.”

Notwith-standing the marks of the Divine
goodness and bounty that are everywhere mani-
fest in the vegetable kingdom, there is, never-
theless, much which shows us that this is a
fallen world — the abode of fallen creatures.
Why, else, do we see the numerous tribes of
poisonous plants, eliminating their deadly
juices, ready to deal death and destruction to
every one who tastes them ? How, else, can we
reconcile the presence of such plants as the
upas, the manchiueel, the panghinia of Mada-
gascar, the woorali of South America, the
dumb cane, the frightful nettles of Java, and a
multitude more, in a world which abounds in
proofs of the Divine love and mercy ? God
has stamped the inscription upon the globe, in
characters which all -may understand, but
which none can erase, that man is a fallen
creature — that he has incurred his Maker’s
frown ; while yet that Creator in wrath re-
members mercy, and still provides food and
comforts I’or the creatines who have rebelled
against him.

The universal decay of plants, their death
at the appointed time — and in these latitudes
the fall of the leaf from most of our trees
reminds us of our own mortality. “ As for man,
his days are as grass : as a llower of the field,
so ho fiourisheth. For the wind passeth over
it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall
know it no more.”

190

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

“ We have short time to stay as yon,

We have as short a spring ;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

As you or any thing :

We die

As your hours do, and dry
Away,

Like to the summer rain.

Or as the pearls of morning dew,

Ne’er to be fomid again.’’

May these, then, instruct us, and may God “ so
teach us to number our days, that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom ! ’’

But if this constant decay and death should
vividly impress on our minds the fact of our
own mortality, how beautifully does the ap-
proach of spring illustrate the doctrine of the
resurrection ! It has been well remarked, that,in
some tropical countries, where winter does not
come, and Avhere the leaves do not fall as
with us, the want of the vivid beauty of spring,
when the trees and flowers burst from a state
of apparent death into all the loveliness of
foliage and flowers, is painfully felt by an
English traveller. We, to whom such a scene
is familar, can understand how beautiful a
picture it gives us of the day when the dead
shall arise, and when we shall all be changed —
the corruptible bodies of the righteous to in-
corruptible ones, glorious like their Saviour,
purified from every deadly stain, infirmity, or
passion. Nor must we omit to notice a fact, of
Avhich the apostle Paul makes so sublime an
application — the growth of the seed. “ That
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it
die : and that which thou sowest, thou sowest

THE RESUREECTION.

191

not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it
may chance of wheat, or of some other grain :
but God giveth it a body which it hath pleased
him. So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incor-
ruption ; it is sown in dishonour ; it is raised in
glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in
power : it is sown a natural body ; it is raised a
spiritual body."

To a mind daily influenced by the truths of
Divine revelation, how many aids to reflection
arc furnished by these striking analogies, of
which not only prophets and apostles availed
themselves, but which are rendered still more
sacred by our Lord’s application of them, in
illustration of his doctrines !

While we may learn much from nature, and
with the light of the gospel much more, it is
liy this gospel alone that we are told of the
way of reconciliation with God — of an atone-
ment for sin. Here, alone, we have the tidings
of full and free salvation, through a crucified
Kedeemer — the truth that, though irtterly
helpless and undone in ourselves, God has
laid help upon One that is mighty to save,
who gave himself up to bear our sins, and to
die for us upon the cross, that we might be
saved. Here, only, do we learn that we are
“ not justified by the works of the law,” but
by faith in Jesus Christ ; and here we have
the promise of the Holy Spirit, to sanctify
our hearts, and make us “ meet for the in-
heritance of the saints in light." These are

192

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS.

truths that tlic book of nature could never
teach us. Let us be thankful, therefore, that
we are not left to it, but that “ life and im-
mortality” are brought “ to light through the
gospel.” INIay we be made “ wise unto salva-
tion, by faith which is in Christ Jesus then,
being reconciled to God by the death of his
Son, we can calmly contemplate the frail and
fading scenes of earth, with the assurance that
there “ remaineth a rest for the people of
God.” In that Avorld sin, sorrow, and death
can never enter ; and the loveliest scenes below
suggest the thought,

“ If God bath made this world so fair,

Where sin and death abound,

How beautiful beyond compare
Will paradise be found.”

And just as the hope of the Christiiin is glorious
Sind full of immortality, proportionably desolate,
dreary, and fearful, is the prospect of those who
live without God in the Avorld — who have not
made their peace with him, through Christ.
To such, the resurrection and a future state
are invested with terrors passing the utmost
stretch of human thought. Oh, may all who
read this volume be wise to seek salvation while
it is to be found !

THF. REI.IGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY: INSTITUTED 17911.