INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25 



form 



ruide we have to their origin. To us 

 legitimate conclusion may be drawn 



from the facts ; and that, taking the broadest view of the case, 

 while it is difficult, on the one hand, to reconcile the acknow- 

 ledged tendency of varieties and hybrids to revert to their 

 original state, with the fact that the floras of remote areas, 

 possessing similar climates, are permanently and prominently 

 different in their main elements j on the other, it is equally 

 remarkable that the majority of the plants found wild or 

 cultivated in all climates, are not specifically changed by any ; 

 and this, whether they are of species that have been thus 



ages, or such as have been in 



times 



many 



plants from all parts of the world have been cultivated with 

 more or less success, and some have become denizens of the 

 soil j but in no instance has such a change of character been 

 produced as could justify the suspicion that specific marks 

 might be obliterated by even such violent contrasts of climate 

 as Calcutta and Australia, or Calcutta and the Cape of Good 

 Hope, afford. On the contrary, the seedlings seem infallibly 

 to resemble their parents for generation after generation, al- 



m 



commodating themselves to the seasons ot 

 ing true to their botanical characters. 



With regard to the specific effects of 

 they are extremely difficult of appreciatioi 

 dom havinsr the opportunity of becoming 



climate 



with 



species under 



an 



be same time. This is, however, 

 ng is so fallacious as recollections of the habit ana g.- 

 appeanmce even of very familiar plants. Wetoe^ 

 , repeatedly gathered some of the commonest Engh 



• n ■ x • „A+hrmt recognizing them, tnougn 



. m foreign countries "thou* reco, S ^ 



differed in no respect, even of haMt, ™ 



familiar with from chiWlhoo.1,-* deceive arc th. 1 



