368 PHYSIOGNOMY OP PLANTS. 



method which, whilst it continually aims at generality of conception, 

 seeks, at the same time, to penetrate the specialties of phenomena 

 by the consideration of particular instances. 



The enumeration of forms according to physiognomic diversity 

 is, from the nature of the case, not susceptible of any strict classi- 

 fication. Here, as everywhere else, in the consideration of external 

 conformation, there are certain leading forms which present the 

 most striking contrasts : such are the groups of arborescent grasses, 

 plants of the aloe form, the different species of cactus, palms, 

 needle-trees, Mimosacese, and Musacese. Even a few scattered 

 individuals of these groups are sufficient to determine the character 

 of a district, and to produce on a non-scientific but sensitive beholder 

 a permanent impression. Other forms, though perhaps much more 

 numerous and preponderating in mass, may not be calculated either 

 by the outline and arrangement of the foliage, or by the relation of 

 the stem to the branches, by luxuriant vigor of vegetation, by 

 cheerful grace; or, on the other hand, by cheerless contraction of 

 the appendicular organs to produce any such characteristic impres- 

 sions. 



As, therefore, a "physiognomic classification," or a division into 

 groups from external aspect or "fades," does not admit of being 

 applied to the whole vegetable kingdom, so also, in such a classifica- 

 tion, the grounds on which the division is made are quite different 

 from those on which our systems of natural families and of plants 

 (including the whole of the vegetable kingdom) have been so happily 

 established. Physiognomic classification grounds her divisions and 

 the choice of her types on whatever possesses "mass" such as 

 shape, position, and arrangement of leaves, their size, and the cha- 

 racter and surfaces (shining or dull) of the parenchyma ; therefore, 

 on all that are called more especially the "organs of vegetation," 

 i. e. those on which the preservation the nourishment and develop- 

 ment of the individual depend : while systematic Botany, on the 

 other hand, grounds the arrangement of natural families on the 

 consideration of the organs of propagation^ those on which the 

 continuation or preservation of the species depends. (Kunth, 

 Lehrbuch der Botanik, 1847, th. i. s. 511; Schleiden, die Pflanze 

 und ihr Leben, 1848, s. 100.) It was already taught in the school 



