

FLORA'S LEXICON. 



17 



LOE. Class 6, HEXANDRIA. Order : Mo- 

 NOGYNIA. The aloe is said to thrive best 

 in the desert, and is only attached to the 

 soil by a very slender fibre. Its taste is 

 very sharp and bitter. So sorrow drives 

 us away from the world, detaches- our 

 hearts from the earth, and fills them with 



bitterness. This plant derives its support almost entirely from 

 the air, and assumes very singular and fantastic shapes. Le 

 Vaillant found many species very numerous in the deserts of Na- 

 maquoise ; some of them six feet long, which were thick and 

 armed with long spines. From the centre of these a light twig 

 shoots forth to the height of a tall tree, all garnished with flow- 

 ers. Others exalt themselves like the cactus, bristling with 

 thorns. Others, again, are marbled, and seem like serponts 

 i | creeping upon the earth. Brydone saw the ancient city of Sy- 

 I racuse entirely covered by great aloes in flower; their elegant 

 i branches giving to the promontory which bounded the coast, the 

 ! appearance of an enchanted forest. These plants also prosper 

 well in our gardens. The collection in the museum of Paris is 

 said to be the most complete in the world. 



These magnificent and monstrous members of the vegetable 



j kingdom are also found in barbarous Africa. There they grow 



j upon the rocks in arid and sandy soil, in the midst of that burn- 



|j ing atmosphere in which scarce aught but tigers and lions can 



breathe and live. Let us bless Providence, then, for raising in 



our climate verdant bowers over our heads, and for spreading 



under our feet the soft carpet of grass, ornamented with saffron, 



violets, and daisies. 



GRIEF. 



Besides, you know, 

 Prosperity 's the very bond of love ; 

 Whose fresh complexion, and whose heart together, 

 Affliction alters. 



SHAKSPEARE. 



