158 THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 



plies the well-known mahogany wood, and Chloroxylon 

 Swietenia, satin wood. 



8. In the rapid sketch we have made of the vegetable 

 kingdom, we have omitted the minute botanical details 

 characteristic of each family, and have only given the 

 principal differences and resemblances of types and 

 classes, with some few representative forms in the most 

 important families. These general peculiarities of plants 

 serve in a great degree to define the character of land- 

 scape scenery in various parts of the world. Gray and 

 withered Lichens clothe the barren confines of vegeta- 

 tion toward the snow-line of mountains or at the north, 

 while Mosses form a silken cushion over rock and soil 

 with their delicate leaflets. 



Grasses are characterized by their sociability, and call 

 forth agreeable sensations by their soft carpet of green 

 and pliant leaves. The Sedges, on the contrary, with 

 stiff and rugged stems and leaves, rejected by cattle, 

 awaken no pleasing associations. In tropical climates, 

 as in Hindustan, the tall Bamboo sometimes overtops 

 the trees, and forms a meadow above the forest. There 

 the Plantain stem swells with sap, the leaves expand and 

 are split by the wind, and the great flower-bunches beam 

 with intense color. Between the reeds and the banana 

 plants the lilies may be placed. The arrow-shaped 

 leaves of the Aroids, with strange and often brightly- 

 colored spathes, mark the transition to the Orchids. 



The stems as well as the leaves of plants often give 

 character to a landscape, as in the Heaths low, branch- 

 ing, dull-green or gray shrubs, whose blossoms scarcely 

 obliterate the melancholy impression produced where 



