330 THE .ESTHETICS OF 



independant, naked stem of the Palm-form, consecrated by 

 religion, celebrated by antiquity and the theme of the poet's 

 song.* But this form splits up into numerous sub- 

 divisions, in which the physiognomical character becomes 

 still more individualized by the shape and consistence of 

 the leaves. In these plants generally, the stem rises from 

 quite a humble mass, reminding us of the globular Cactus, 

 up to the slenderest columns several hundred feet high, 

 and the impressions which the Dwarf and Nipa Palms excite, 

 are naturally quite different from that of the majestic 

 altitude of the shaft of the Wax- Palm in the Andes, which 

 attains a height of one hundred and eighty feet ; but still it 

 is the arrangement and form of the leaf especially which 

 most importantly modifies the total impression. In regard 

 to this point, we distinguish the arborescent Lilies or the 

 Agave-form, the stem of which is often curved in and out, 

 and sometimes divided above into a few short, thick 

 branches, the extremities bearing bunches, equally expanded 

 in every direction, of liliaceous leaves, often of a dull green 

 colour, and being solid and hard, they are not readily stirred 

 by the wind, so that they afford a picture of immoveable 

 repose. The Thebaic Cocoa-Palms, the gigantic Four- 

 croyas, the Yuccas of Mexico, the Vellozias and Barbacenias 

 of Chili, the great African Aloes and the Grass-trees of 

 Australia, belong here, and Polynesia furnishes another 

 peculiar form in the Pandanece, with stiff, bifid, shining 

 green leaves, arranged in very evident spiral lines, whence 

 they are called by the English, "Screw-Pines." The 

 contrast to these is furnished by the Fern-form, which with 



* The borders of the Frontispiece are formed on the right by the 

 slender Cocoa Nut, with its feathered leaves, on the left by the stouter 

 Mauritius Palm with fan- shaped leaves. 



