20 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



nomy of nature, and the dimensions and forms of organised 

 beings, must also have been subjected to various alterations. 

 Huge Pachydermata, Mastodons, Owen's Mylodon robustus, 

 and the Colossochelys, a land-tortoise above six feet high, 

 have existed, and in the vegetable kingdom there have been 

 forests composed of gigantic Lepidodendra, cactus-like Stig- 

 marias, and numerous kinds of Cycadese. Unable to depict 

 fully according to its present features the.physiognomy of our 

 planet in this its, later age, I will only venture to attempt to 

 indicate the characters which principally distinguish those 

 vegetable groups which appear to me to be most strongly 

 marked by physiognomic differences. However favoured 

 by the richness and flexibility of our native language, it is 

 still an arduous and hazardous undertaking when we attempt 

 to trace in words that which belongs rather to the imitative 

 art of the painter. I feel also the necessity of avoiding 

 as much as possible the wearisome impression almost in- 

 separable from all lengthened enumerations. 



We will begin with palms, ( 15 ) the loftiest and noblest 

 of all vegetable forms, that to which the prize of beauty 

 has been assigned by the concurrent voice of nations in 

 all ages ; for the earliest civilisation of mankind belonged 

 to countries bordering on the region of palms, and to 

 parts of Asia where they abound. Their lofty, slender, 

 ringed, and, in some cases, prickly stems, terminate in 

 aspiring and shining either fanlike or pinnated foliage. The 

 leaves are frequently curled, like those of some gramineae. 

 Smooth polished stems of palms carefully measured by me 

 had attained 192 English feet in height. In receding from 



