78 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS 



flower was given it by the Spaniards, who 

 found it in all its beauty when they discovered 

 America, and fancied they beheld in the flower 

 the nails, the hammer, the rays of glory, the 

 number of the apostles an emblem, in fact, of 

 our Saviour's crucifixion, and an assurance of 

 conquest, as they imagined, in the name of 

 religion. But how remote their conduct was 

 from the spirit of Him in whom they professed 

 to believe, and whom they professed to follow, 

 let the history of the conquest of South America 

 tell ! More anxious to subjugate the Indians, 

 to acquire their riches, and to force upon them 

 the principles of Popery, than to manifest the 

 spirit of Christ, " the very men who beheld in 

 a flower of the forest an emblem of His love 

 an emblem for faith to rest upon carried 

 misery wherever they raised their standard." 

 Seventy-six species of passion flower inhabit 

 tropical South America, and about thirty species 

 are found in the West Indies. 



Another beautiful flower, allied to the water 

 lily of our country, but of far more splendid form 

 and gigantic dimensions, ( Victoria regina,) inha- 

 bits the waters of South America. Its leaf is 

 from five to six feet in diameter, and about six- 

 teen feet in circumference, salver-shaped, and 

 with a rim from three to five inches high rising 

 from its edge, green within and crimson outside. 

 The flower is of a proportionate size, the ex- 

 panded calyx being often nearly six feet in 

 circumference ; this contains several hundred 

 petals, the outer ones being white, and the 



