Picture of' Vegetation on the Surface of' the Globe. 123 



the trunks of trees as they grow up. They have fleshy and her- 

 baceous stems, sagittate, digitate, or elongated leaves, but always 

 with very large veins. The flowers are inclosed in sheaths. 

 These vegetables belong rather to the New Continent than to 

 the Old. The caladium and pothos inhabit only the torrid 

 zone. 



" With this form of the aroideae, is connected that of the lianas, 

 of a remarkable vigour in the warmest countries of South Ame- 

 rica, such as the paullinece, banisteria, bignonice, &c. Our 

 traihng hop and vines, may give an idea of the elegance of forms 

 of this group. On the banks of the Orinoco, the leafless branches 

 of the bauhinice are often forty feet in length ; sometimes they 

 fall perpendicularly from the elevated cymes of the acajous ; 

 sometimes they are diagonally extended from one tree to ano- 

 ther, like the cordage of a ship. The stiff* form of the bluish- 

 coloured aloes, contrasts with the pliant shoots of the lianas of a 

 fresh and light-green tint. Their stems, when they have any, 

 are, for the greater part, without divisions, having approximated 

 knots, bent upon themselves like serpents, and crowned at their 

 summit with succulent fleshy leaves, terminated by a long point, 

 and dispersed in dense rays. The aloes, which have a tall stem, 

 do not form groups like the vegetables which love to live in so- 

 ciety ; they grow isolated in arid plains, and, by this circum- 

 stance, give to the tropical regions a pecuHar character of melan- 

 choly. A sad stiffness and immobihty characterize the forms of 

 the aloes ; a cheerful slimness and mobile suppleness distinguish 

 the gramineae, and, in particular, the physiognomy of those of 

 them which are arborescent. The bamboo thickets of both In- 

 dies form umbrageous alleys. The smooth stem, often recur- 

 ved and floating, of the gramineae of the tropics, surpasses in 

 height that of our alders and oaks. 



" The form of the ferns is not less ennobled than that of the 

 gramineae in the warm countries of the earth. The arborescent 

 ferns, often thirty-five feet in height, resemble palms, but their 

 trunk is less slender, shorter, and very rugged. Their fo- 

 liage, more delicate, and of a looser contexture, is transparent, 

 and slightly dentate upon the edges. These gigantic ferns are 

 almost exclusively indigenous to the torrid zone ; but they pre- 



