STOVE PLANTS IN THEIR NATIVE TROPICS. 53 



the contiguous cells, but better means of research and improved 

 methods have shown that in some cases, and probably in all, the 

 protoplasm in tlie cell communicates through an inconceivably 

 fine, sieve-like partition with the protoplasm in the neighboring 

 ■cells, and thus throughout the whole plant there is absolute con- 

 tinuity. Each plant, no matter how complex, is in all its living 

 parts bound strictly together into a coherent cooperating whole. 



The bearing of this on the question of propagating plants by 

 cuttings or buds is very important. When a bud is transferred 

 from one plant to another or to favonible soil, and there takes up 

 its life as if it had not been severed from its source, it carries all 

 its ancestral peculiarities with it. If, however, as in the case of 

 the seed produced by the action of the pollen from one modified 

 leaf, called a stamen, on the germ in tlie ovule or essential part 

 of another modified leaf, there is lacking that close continuity — 

 there is given a chance for variation to come in, and herein the 

 .seed differs from the bud. In this field of investigation much is 

 to be done with respect to the perpetuation of acquired characters 

 and those which are more obviously inherited. 



At this point, said the lecturer, we may take in review the 

 •diversified plants of the tropics and note their peculiarities in 

 theii- homes. But before passing to the illustrations we must 

 note two points as of the highest importance. First, the showy 

 plants in the tropics are much scattered and are not striking for 

 brilliancy. If you want to see tropical plants at their best you 

 must not visit a jungle, but must see such a stove as that of Mr. 

 Hunnewell at Wellesley. Here, and in similar places, are 

 gathered the treasures from many places in the tropics. 



Again, in the tropics stove plants are not so thrifty as under 

 the care of our most intelligent gardeners at the North. Here, 

 ninder glass, all the caprices and eccentricities of plants are 

 humored, and the plants consequently thrive better than they do 

 where, in the tropics, they have to shift for themselves. 



Professor Goodale gave a large series of stereoscopic illustra- 

 tions of the finest tropical plants in their jungles and glens, and 

 closed by deploring the fact that it is impossible, even in our 

 largest Northern stoves, to bring the largest tropical plants to 

 their finest and most characteristic condition. 



The following were among the most striking of the very large 



