STUDY XI. 125 



pofe of flickering it's flowers from the heat of the 

 Sun. 



Finally, what confirms me in the belief, that 

 the flowers of plants are adapted to the action of 

 heat, conformably to the nature of every climate, 

 is this, that many of our European plants vegetate 

 extremely well in the Antilles-Iflands, but never 

 come to feed there. Father du Tertre obferved, 

 that in thofe iilands *, the cabbage, the fainfoin, 

 the lucern, the favory, the fweet bafil, the nettle, 

 the plaintain, the wormwood, the fage, the liver- 

 Wort, the amaranth, and all our fpecies of grami- 

 neous plants, throve there wonderfully well, but 

 never produced grains. Thefe obfervations de- 

 monftrate, that it is neither the air, nor the foil, 

 which is inimical to them ; but the Sun, which 

 acts with too much vivacity on their flowers, 

 for mod of thefe plants have theirs aggregated 

 into an ear, which greatly increafes the repercuf- 

 fion of the folar rays. 



I believe, at the fame time, that fuch plants 

 might be naturalized in the Weft-India Iilands, 

 as well as many others of our temperate climates, 

 by felecliing from the varieties of their fpecies, 

 thofe whofe flowers have the fmalleft fields, and 



* Natural Hiftory of the Antilles, by Father du Tertre. 



whofe 



