CT. IV. GENERAL REMARKS. 43? 



The shrubby plants of the Cape of Good Hope 

 and New Holland exhibit a striking similarity, as 

 also the shrubs and trees of the northern parts of 

 Asia and America, which may be exemplified in 

 the Platanus orientalis of the former, and in Pla- 

 tanus occidentalis of the latter, as well as in Fagtis 

 sylvatica and Fagus latifolia, or Acer cappadoci- 

 cum, and Acer saccharinum ; and yet the herbs and 

 undershrubs of the two countries do not in the 

 least correspond.* 



A change of habitat will often alter the habit of 

 a plant so much that the species can scarcely be 

 recognized ; particularly if you remove it from its 

 natural and uncultivated state into a state of culti- 

 vation. Hence the colour of the flower is some- influenc- 

 times changed and frequently the figure of the ^ figure' 

 leaves, as in common Colewort, and Celery : and 

 hence the Crab-tree and others divest themselves 

 of their thorns, and flowers are often rendered 

 double. 



But plants will often thrive very well though Though 

 transported from their native habitats by the art helioTof 

 and industry of man even into countries where they the P lant > 

 would not naturally have disseminated themselves. 

 Most of the culinary plants of Europe have been 

 brought from the east, through the Greeks and 

 Romans. And several useful vegetables, but par- 

 ticularly the Potatoe, have been brought from Ame- 



* Willdenow, Prin. Bot. p. 390, 



