350 YIEWS, &C. PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



the incessant effort to arrive at a generalisation of ideas sup- 

 ported by individual illustrations, is associated with an endea- 

 vour to penetrate to the specialities of phenomena. 



The enumeration of forms is, from the physiognomical differ- 

 ence of their nature, incapable of any strict classification. 

 Here, as everywhere in the consideration of external forms, 

 there are certain main types which present the strongest con- 

 trasts, — as the groups of the Arborescent Grasses, the Aloe 

 form and the species of Cactus, Palms, Acicular-leaved trees, 

 Mimosacese, and Bananas. Even scantily dispersed individuals 

 belonging to these groups determine the character of a district, 

 and produce a lasting impression on the mind of the unscien- 

 tific but susceptible beholder. Other forms, perhaps more 

 numerous and preponderating, may not appear equally marked 

 either by the shape or position of the leaves ; the relation of 

 the stem to the branches, luxuriant vigour, animation, and 

 grace; or even by the melancholy contraction of the leaf-organs. 



As, therefore, a physiognomical classification, or a distribu- 

 tion into groups according to external appearance, does not 

 admit of being applied to the whole vegetable kingdom col- 

 lectively, the basis on which such a classification should be 

 grounded must necessarily be wholly different from that which 

 has been so happily chosen for the establishment of our com- 

 prehensive systems of the natural families of plants. Vege- 

 table physiognomy grounds its divisions and the choice of its 

 types on all that possesses mass, — as the stem, branches, and 

 appendicular organs (the form, position, and size of the leaf, 

 the character and brilliancy of the parenchyma), and conse- 

 quently on all that is now included under the special term, the 

 organs of vegetation, and on which depend the preservation 

 (nourishment and development) of the individual ; while sys- 

 tematic botany, on the other hand, bases the arrangement of 

 the natural families of plants on a consideration of the organs 

 of propagation, on which depends the preservation of the 

 species.* 1 It was already taught in the school of Aristotle,f 

 that the generation of seed is the idtimate aim of the being 

 and life of a plant. The process of development in the organs 

 of fructification has become, since Caspar Fried. Wolf, J and 



* Kimth, Lehrbuck der Boianih, 1847. Th. i. s. 511; Schleiden, 

 Die Pflanze und ihr Leben, 1848, s. 100, 

 t Probl 20, 7. 

 £ Theoria Gencrationis, § 5 — 9. 



