2G6 
HABITATIONS OF PLANTS. 
a wonderful adaptation of plants to the physical necessities of 
animals in geneial, but they are also varied to correspond to the 
peculiar wants of animals in different climates. 
First, we would notice the herbs which cover the surface of 
the earth ; had their stems been hard and woody, the greater 
part of the earth would have been inaccessible to the foot of man, 
until the vegetation was first destroyed by fire, or by some other 
means. Shall we suppose that the grass and herbs which now 
afford a soft carpet for our feet, came by chance to grow thus, 
rather than hard and woody like the trees 1 Shall we suppose, 
too, that by chance the prevailing colour of vegetation is green, 
that colour upon which, above all, the eye rests with the most 
agreeable sensations ? Suppose the grass and herbs to have been 
red or yellow, and with our present organs of sight, how pain- 
ful would be the sensations excited by these bright colours ! In- 
stead of beholding nature with delight, we should turn from it, 
and vainly seek some object on which the eye might repose. 
Woody shrubs occasionally alternate with herbs, but they are 
so placed as not to offer obstructions to the foot of man ; they 
often grow out of the clefts of rocks, affording a means of climb- 
ing almost perpendicular precipices. Large trees are not usual- 
ly placed so near together as to prevent a passage between 
them ; their lowest branches are mostly at a height sufficient to 
admit men and beasts under them, and thus, few forests are im- 
penetrable. 
In cold countries, whether occasioned by distance from the 
equator, or elevation by means of mountains and table lands, 
we. find the pine, fir, and cedar, and other resinous plants, which 
furnish man, during his dreary season of winter, with light and 
fuel. The leaves of these trees are mostly filiform, or long and 
narrow, thus fitted for reverberating the heat, like the hair of 
animals, and for resisting the impetuosity of winds, which often 
prevail in those regions. • 
In warm countries, trees present in their foliage a resource 
from the scorching rays of the sun ; their leaves serving as fans 
and umbrellas. The leaf of the banana is broad and long, like 
an apron ; it has acquired the name of Adam’s fig leaf. The 
leaves of the cocoa tree are said to be from twelve to fifteen 
feet long, and from seven to eight broad. Those of the talipot 
tree are equal in size. A traveller remarks respecting the leaves 
of the talipot tree, that one is capable of covering from fifteen 
to twenty persons. The soldiers, he says, use it for a covering 
Not thrown by chance over the surface of the earth — Trees of cold coun- 
tries — Of warm countries. 
