204 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



" lie buried in a tranquil slumber that knows no waking, 

 free from the desires which impel to spontaneous motion." 

 (Aristot. de generat. Animal. Y. i. p. 778, and de somno 

 et vigil, cap. 1, p. 455, Bekker.) 



( 36 ) p. 30. " Draw over their heads." 



The flowers of our Aristolochia cordata, to which I have 

 already referred in Note 25. The largest flowers in the 

 world, apart from Composite (in the Mexican Helianthus 

 annuus), belong to Rafnesia arnoldii, Aristolochia, Datura, 

 Barringtonia, Gustavia, Carolinea, Lecythis, Nymphsea, 

 Nelumbium, Victoria regina, Magnolia, Cactus, and to 

 Orchicleous and Liliaceous plants. 



( 37 ) p. 31. " To behold all the shining worlds which 

 stud the heavenly vault from pole to pole" 



The finest portion of the southern celestial hemisphere, 

 where shine the constellations of the Centaur, the Ship, and 

 the southern Cross, and where the soft lustre of the Magel- 

 lanic clouds is seen, remains for ever concealed from the 

 view of the inhabitants of Europe. It is only beneath the 

 equinoctial line that 'Man enjoys the peculiar privilege of 

 beholding at once all the stars both of the Southern and 

 the Northern heavens. Some of our northern constellations 

 seen from thence appear from their low altitude of a sur- 

 prising and almost awful magnitude : for example, Ursus 

 major and minor. As the inhabitant of the tropics sees all 

 the stars of the firmament, So also, in regions where plains 

 alternate with deep valleys and lofty mountains, Nature 

 surrounds him with representatives of all the forms of plants* 



