54 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



fit conferred upon our nurserymen, by the discovery of plants 

 of decided character and use. This is especially the case with 

 the Begonia, a plant of beautiful appearance lately found in the 

 solitudes of Bornean forests, and imported into this country, via 

 England. 



Generally speaking, the most brilliant and fragrant tropical 

 flowers grow on large trees or shrubs, and if we desire to cul- 

 tivate them in this country we must not only build very large 

 green-houses, but also wait long for the reward of our labors. 

 Hence the taste for variegated leaf plants, of which the tropics 

 furnish the rarest specimens, has recently sprung up, for thin 

 vivid colors may be enjoyed from their very beginning, and thus, 

 in the long run, confer as much pleasure as even the fragrant but 

 treacherous magnolia. Of the plants cultivated for their grace- 

 ful leaves, the fern and mimosa are familiar types ; of those which 

 are remarkable for striking shape, the Spanish bayonet, the palm, 

 and cactus will be remembered ; and of those which recommend 

 themselves both for color and shape, none are more notable 

 instances than the begonia and caladium, although the former is 

 more famous for its tints than outline. 



In the tropics are found plants of the most brilliant colors, and 

 birds of the most gorgeous plumage. While the woods are not 

 so vocal with song as the groves of a more northern latitude, 

 there is a magnificence in the tints of birds and flowers for the 

 eye to feast upon, which compensate, in some part at least, for 

 the dead stillness which reigns in the sylvan solitudes. The 

 high colors of tropical vegetation are, no doubt, greatly due to 

 the constant and direct influence of sunlight, Avhich provokes 

 and sustains a chemical action on the sap, and the formation of 

 acid is followed at once by the production of a high color. Not 

 even these wild regions are unvisited by the agents of Yeitch and 

 Low, the great London nurserymen, or by those numerous mes- 

 sengers which the managers of the Kew botanical gardens keep 

 scouring over the whole world in search of rarities. Occasion- 

 ally, too, new and rare plants are discovered by Americans — 

 either those attached to our exploring expeditions, or by indi- 

 vidual traveling botanists, but the great part of the floral treas- 

 ures are taken to England first, and find their way here after- 

 ward. The reason for this is that there is not only more thirst 

 for novelties abroad, but more money to buy them, and while it 

 amply repays Veitch or Low to send agents to the other end of 



