NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 41 



these plants entirely disappear, and each of these portions of the 

 globe exhibits to us its own indigenous productions, which are the 

 more numerous, if many ranges of mountains, with a loose soil, be 

 in the neighbourhood. 



At the Cape of Good Hope, we see around a Flora so rich, so 

 peculiar, and so little mixed, because the place itself is a moun- 

 tainous region. Madagascar possesses a numerous Flora, because 

 that large island is very mountainous, and two quarters of the 

 world, namely, Africa and Asia, between which it lies, communi* 

 ca'e to it their various productions. The Bahama islands are in- 

 debted for their rich Flora to their own mountains and the neigh- 

 bouring countries. We there find not only indigenous plants, but 

 the most of those of Carolina and Florida, and very many inhabit* 

 ants of the West Indies and of the Mexican Gulph. 



To find a plant existing as indigenous in all latitudes would be 

 difficult. Such plants as arc found widely dispersed, have been 

 planted by the hand of man. The chickweed (Alsine media), which 

 Linnaeus and others affirm to be found every where, is met with 

 only in those places to which our culinary plants have been con- 

 veyed. We do not find it mentioned by the Indian botanists, although 

 it may perhaps grow in India ; but in the warmer places of 

 Africa, 1 doubt much if it would exist. 



An extensive range has been assigned to the common Night- 

 shade, (^olanum nigrum), and the Strawberry (Fragaria vesca). 

 But naturalists have taken similar plants for varieties of the com- 

 mon European species, and have ascribed to those mentioned a 

 much more extensive residence than they really enjoy. The plants 

 of the coasts have been more widely dispersed by Nature, than 

 those of the interior. Yet even among these the Purslane (Portulaca 

 oleracea), the Sow-thistle, (Sonchus oleraceus), and the Cellery, 

 (Apitini graveoleus), are the only ones that have wandered far : 

 and indeed the two last have never been met with in the warmest 

 regions of the globe. 



It may be doubted, however, if among the numberless plants 

 which our earth produces, there may be any of so accommodating 

 an organization as to endure every climate, as id the animal king- 

 dom, man, the dog and hog do, which we know will prosper from 

 the torrid to the frigid zone. s \ 'Wildcnow, 



