206 
GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION OF PLANTS. 
quantity of water sufficient for a draught to a thirsty person ; the end of the leai 
forms a lid. as if to prevent the evaporation of the fluid. Various other plants 
in hot regions, furnish refreshing draughts or cot)ling fruits for the thirsty traveler 
These remarks might be pursued to an extent as great as the vastness of the vege- 
table kingdom and the wants of man ; we have merely glanced at the subject of 
the adaptation of plants to the wants of animal life, hoping that these few sugges 
tions may lead the student to trace, from observation of the works of nature, the 
operations of that great designing Mind which rules and governs all with iniinitf 
wisdom and benevolence. 
816. We find the earth to be covered with a multitude ol 
species of plants, differing not more by their external forms 
than by their internal structure, and each endowed with pecu- 
liar habits and instincts. Some species seem adapted to the 
mountains, some to the valleys, and others to the plains ; some 
require an argillaceous or clayey soil ; others a calcareous soil, 
or one impregnated with lime / others a quartzose or sandy soil ; 
and some will only grow where the earth contains soda or ma- 
rine salts. Many plants will grow only in water ; we find here 
6uch as are peculiar to the marsh, the lake, the river, and the 
sea. Many plants require a very elevated temperature ; some 
will grow only in mild and temperate climates, and others only 
in the midst of frost and snows. Thus every country where 
man is to be found has its vegetation. 
317. Some species, with respect to localities are confined to 
narrow limits. A species of Origanum (the Tournefortii) was 
discovered by Tournefort, in 1700, upon one single rock in the 
little island of Amorgos, in the Greek Archipelago ; eighty 
years afterward the plant was found in the same island, and 
upon the same rock, and has never been discovered in any 
other situation. Some plants confine themselves within certain 
longitudes^ scarcely varying to the right or left. The Menziesia 
fallifolia^ a species of heath, confined between ten and fifteen 
degrees of west longitude, is found in Portugal, Spain, and Ire- 
land. Latitude and elevation^ bv reason of mountains and 
table-lands, produce a greater variety in the appearance of 
vegetation than almost any other causes. Few plants anre found 
to endure extreme cold. Botanists formerly estimated, that at 
Spitsbergen, in north latitude 80°, there were but about thirty 
species of phenogamous plants; in Lapland, 70° north latitude, 
five hundred and thirty-nine species ; at Madagascar at the 
tropic of Capricorn, five thousand ; and at the equator a much 
greater number. These estimates fall very far short of the 
number of species now known, but they may give some idea of 
the difference in the vegetation of cold and warm climates. 
318. Geographical Situation of Plants. — Every country ex- 
hibits a botanical character peculiar to itself. Linnaeus, in his 
Reflection. -316. Plants adapted to various soils, &c.— 317. Locality— Extreme sold -318. Even 
country has its own botanical character. 
