TROPICAL PLANTS. 
atory to the long subsequent introduction of 
him to whom Godgave “ every tree in which 
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.” 
“ Tby ways 0 Lord, with wise design, 
Are framed upon thy throne above. 
And ever>' dark and bending line. 
Meets in the centre of thv love!” 
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Plants of the Cycadean family are now 
natives only of the tropics of Asia, America^ 
and south-eastern Africa. In our climate 
they exist amongst the rarities of the con¬ 
servatory, in which character some fine 
specimens may be observed amidst the 
groupe of wondrously strange forms in the 
hot-houses of the Horticultural Society at 
Chiswick. The external appearance of these 
plants led to their being classed by Linnaeus 
with ferns, they were afterwards separated 
to form a family intermediate between these 
and palms, but their structure has been de¬ 
termined to ally them more nearly with the 
fir tribe. 
The occurrence of these curious forms 
where now the cliflfe of Portland Island 
expose their barren crests to the shore, is 
