MONOCOTYLEDON ES. 25 



shooting, like the Mosses and Lichens of our climate, 

 from the stems of trees, and ornamenting them with 

 their lively green and magnificent flowers j " some- 

 times resembling winged insects ; at others, delicate 

 birds, as though attracted by the fragrance of the 

 honey-vessels : indeed, their beauty is so great, that 

 the life of a painter would be insufficient to depict 

 all the varieties of magnificent Orchideae which adorn 

 the valleys of the Peruvian Andes." (HUMBOI.DT.) 

 Several of these flowers, less beautiful in the Tempe- 

 rate Zone, adorn our meadows. The Vanilla, which 

 grows as a parasitical plant in the Tropical Zone, 

 is of this kind. It is curious that the Orchideae, 

 like the Lichens, keep on the ground in the Cold and 

 Temperate Zones, but grow out of the stems of trees, 

 as parasitical plants, in the Torrid Zone. The 

 Lichens, however, occur more frequently as parasi- 

 tical plants, as soon as shrubs and trees are met 

 with in the vegetable world, beginning in the snow- 

 line. In our Picture, the line corresponding with 

 these plants is marked as gradually decreasing from 

 the Torrid Zone to the 5th degree on this side of the 

 limit of perpetual snow. 



6. The Order of Asphoddi is almost as far diffused 

 as the Orchidese. In the Grassy tracts, they bear 

 some resemblance to the Grasses ; as, the Spider-Wort 



