304 DURATION OP THE LIFE OF PLANTS. 



and produces leaves the first year, but does not produce a flowering 

 stem, nor ripen its seed, till the second, after which it perishes ; 

 while the third intimates, that the process of flowering and fruiting may 

 be postponed till the third year, or any indefinite period. The first 

 two exercise the function of flowering in general only once, while 

 the last may do so several tunes before dying. Under different 

 climates, however, and under different modes of management, the 

 same species may be annual, biennial, or even perennial. Thus, 

 Wheat in this country is annual if sown early in spring, but biennial 

 if sown in autumn; in hot climates, Lolium perenne proves annual; 

 the Castor-oil plant in this country is annual, while in Italy it is a 

 shrub of several year's duration; the annual Mignonette, by removing 

 its flower-buds the first year, and keeping it in a proper temperature 

 during the winter, may be rendered perennial and shrubby. Many 

 flowering garden plants, as Neapolitan Violet and Lily of the Valley, 

 may be brought into flower at a late period of the year, by pinching 

 off the blossoms in the early part of the season. 



634. Plants, as regards their flowering and fruiting, have also been 

 divided into monocarpic (ftovos. one, and gago-oV, fruit), or those which 

 flower once only and then die; and polycarpic (TOAI)?, many), or those 

 which flower and fruit several times before the entire plant dies. Thus, 

 annuals and biennials, which flower the first or second year and die, 

 as well as the Agave, and some Palms which flower only once in forty 

 or fifty years, and perish, are monocarpic; while perennials are poly- 

 carpic. Some perennial woody plants live to a great age. Some 

 specimens of Adansonia digitata, the Baobab of Senegal, are said to be 

 more than 5000 years old. The Yew, the Oak, the Lime, the Cypress, 

 the Olive, the Orange, Banyan, and Chestnut, often attain great 

 longevity. 



635. The following is a notice of the size and age of some trees: 



Height to which forest trees grow in France, 120 to 130 feet. 



Height to which forest trees grow in America, 150 



Trunks of some Baobabs have a girth of 90 



Trunk of Dracaena of the Canaries has a girth of 45 



That of an Acer in South Carolina has a girth of. 62 



In France, trees have often a girth of 25 to 30 



Oaks in Britain planted before the Conquest, more than 800 years old. 



Yew at Fountain's Abbey, Ripon, 1200 



Yews in churchyard of Crowhurst, Surrey, 1450 



Yew at Fortingal, Perthshire, , 2500 to 2600 



Yew at Brabourn churchyard, Kent 3000 



Yew at Hedsor, Bucks, 27 feet diameter 3200 



A specimen of Ficus indica, or the Banyan, on an island in the river 

 Nerbudda, is believed to be identical with one that existed in the time 

 of Alexander the Great, and which, according to Nearchus, was then 

 capable of overshadowing 10,000 men. Parts of it have been carried 



