THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 335 



Vegetable World, the sacred Baobab,* the shapeless mass 

 of the barrel-like, swollen trunk of the Bombax, and the 

 purple-blossomed Hibiscus bush belong to this assemblage 

 of forms. 



From the peculiar impression which the plants make 

 through the texture and colour of their leaves, the Laurel 

 and Myrtle-form is more allied to the northern Willows, 

 from which many New Holland Myrtacece are even 

 physiognomically indistinguishable. As a whole, broad, 

 rigid and coriaceous leaves, shining as if varnished, and 

 reflecting the light with dazzling brightness, are certainly 

 the distinguishing features of the plants, but they are strangely 

 modified when a dense white felt, as in the Proteacece, 

 clothes the lower surfaces of the leaves, and mingles a 

 silvery tint with the shining green . But I should regard the 

 Acacia-form as the most perfect among plants. The varied, 

 often simply-umbelled, often airily-reticulated, often Oak-like 

 gnarled branching of the here slender, there massive stems, 

 is such a source of Beauty in the so favouring abundance 

 of variation of form, multiplied in the highest degree by 

 the light feathery leaves, which now small and elegant are 

 marked out like the most delicate lace and embroidery 

 against the clear sky, now stretching wide in picturesque 

 curves, emulate the Palm leaves. The Robinia, naturalized 

 here from North America, gives but a weak picture of the 

 delicacy, splendour and majesty to which this Form 

 developes beneath the quickening influence of a tropical 

 sun. 



Although we restrict ourselves to this sketchy enume- 

 ration of the characteristic forms of Plants, Nature 



* Adansonia digitata. 



