62 
THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
In the Torrid Zone vegetation assumes its most 
majestic form, and a tree like the baobab and the banian, 
is large enough to cover a regiment of soldiers. The 
flowers of tropical countries possess the richest lustre 
and strongest odour ; yet the plants of the different 
hemispheres vary greatly. Thus, throughout America 
there are no heaths, and in South America no rose-trees ; 
while in Africa, vast tracts of land are gay with varieties 
of beautiful heaths, and Asia is the garden of roses. 
The plants of Africa are remarkable for their numerous 
thorns, the bluish green colour of their foliage, and for 
the succulent nature of the leaves of those flowers, which, 
like the fig marigold, bloom in the desert. The leaves 
of American plants are frequently long and smooth, and 
in North Am.erica the prevailing colour of the blossoms 
is white, nine out of ten being said to be of this hue. 
The trees of New Holland have a dull and uninteresting 
appearance, owing to the existence of glands upon both 
surfaces of the leaves ; and there is no other part of the 
world in which vegetation has altogether so singular a 
character as in this. The leaves of many Australian 
trees seem twisted out of their usual position, and the 
leaf-stalk is often flat and expanded, performing all the 
usual functions of a leaf to its parent plant. An island 
climate is generally considered very favourable to the 
development of a variety of vegetation, and many islands 
have each its own peculiar flora. 
