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Show 240 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PI.~ANTS . by others with more probability, at the foot of the Himalaya. Grecian fables named the fields of Enna as the happy native land of the cereals; and if in northern climes, where corn is cultivated in immense unbroken fields, their monotonous aspect adds but little to the beauty of the landscape, the inhabitant of the tropics, on the other hand, in rearing groves of plantains wherever he fixes his habitation, contributes to the adornment of the earth's surface by the extension of one of the most noble and beautiful forms of the vegetable world. The form of Malvacere ('') and Bombacere, represented by Ceiba, Cavanillesia, and the Mexican hand-tree Cheirostemon, has enormously thick trunks; large, soft, woolly leaves, either heart-shaped or indented; and superb flowers frequently of a purple or crimson hue. It is to this group of plants that the Baobab, or monkey bread-tree (Adansonia digitata) belongs, which, with a very moderate elevation, has a diameter of 32 English feet, and is probably the largest and most ancient organic monument on our planet. In Italy, the Malvacere already begin to impart to the vegetation a peculiar southern character. The delicately pinnated foliage of the Mimosa form, ('8 ) of which Acacia, Desmanthus, Gleditschia, Porleria, and Tamarindus are important members, is entirely wanting in our temperate zone in the Old Continent, though found in the United States, where, in corresponding latitudes, vegetation is more varied and more vigorous than in Europe. The umbrella-like arrangement of the branches, resembling that seen in the stone pine of Italy, is very frequent among the Mimosas. The deep blue of the tropic sky, seen through their finely divided foliage, has an extremely picturesque effect. The Heath form ('9) belongs more especially to the Old World, and particularly to the African continent and islands; taking for our guides physiognomic character and general aspect, we may class under it the Epacridere and Diosmere, many Proteacere, and those Australian Acacias which have mere leaf-stalks instead of leaves (phyllodias). This form has some points of similarity with that of needle trees, and the partial resemblance enhances the effect of the pleasing contrast which, when these two are placed together, is afforded by the abundant bell-shaped blossoms of the heaths. Arbc- |
