MONOCOTYLEDON ES. 23 



heat ; and, in the opposite, to the vicinity of the snow : 

 losing their character, however, towards the Torrid 

 Zone, in handsomer and more luxuriant plants. In 

 the Torrid Zone, the appearance of some grasses, for 

 instance the bamboo, approaches that of the palms, 

 both in their beauty and size j and the time of their 

 growth and blossoming accords with that local situa- 

 tion. According to these observations, the line of 

 the grasses has been drawn from the snow-line to the 

 Torrid Zone, and the prevalence of the grasses on 

 this side of the limit pointed out. 



2. In the same way as the Monocotyledones termi- 

 nate at the snow-line in grasses, they become conspi- 

 cuous in the Torrid Zone by the luxuriant magnifi- 

 cence of the palms and plantain- trees. The palms 

 and plantains, from their structure, belong peculiarly 

 to the scorching sun-beams of the Torrid Zone ; and 

 scarcely extend to neighbouring parts in the Tempe- 

 rate Zones, either in perpendicular or horizontal 

 direction. The wax-palm is found on Chimborazo, 

 as high as 2800ft.; and the dwarf-palm (Chamarops 

 humilis) in the southern part of Europe, growing only 

 in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast The line 

 indicating the locality of this order of plants has 

 therefore been drawn from the Torrid Zone to the 

 middle of the inhabitable part of the globe. 



