SOUTH LONDON FLORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
189 
physiology, reads often, in the venation of a leaf, or the texture of 
a hark, the character of the plant to which it belonged, in opposition to 
that of others whose products may he mingled with them. 
Had he in addition to the structure and economy of the more highly 
organised plants, traced that of the descending series to the lowest verge 
of vegetable vitality, and observed the varied forms of both, such 
circumstances would not be devoid of utility ; because the presence of 
certain tribes of plants indicate the kind of soil or rock to which they 
are invariably found attached. Plants are also geographically dis¬ 
tributed ; the chief habitat of the Ericae is in the South of Africa. 
To the same station the pelargoniums and mesembryanthemums belong; 
the whole of the aloes is also found there except one in the West 
Indies. In South America the cacti prevail, and oaks and magnolias 
embellish the northern latitudes of that continent. Of the roses, not a 
single indigenous species is known either in South America or Africa. 
Other natural groups and their species are found only at particular 
elevations above the level of the ocean. And though some of the epiphy¬ 
tic lichens are found to be indifferent to temperature, others are only 
capable of existing at a certain mean, and their presecne, therefore, 
upon the dried bark would be indicative of the natural site of the tree 
that produced it. We are yet, however, but as children in regard to 
our knowledge of the mutual dependence of organic beings upon each 
other; and still more so when we view them in connection with the 
complicated chemical and mechanical agency with which their ex¬ 
istence is amalgamated. 
South London Floricultural Society. —An exhibition of 
flowers, flowering shrubs, and fruit, by this Society, took place on Thurs¬ 
day, the 7th April, at the Horns Tavern, Kennington; and although 
the weather was so extremely unfavourable, the supply of specimens 
was abundant and beautiful beyond description. Most of the eminent 
growers and amateurs contributed largely; amongst others, the 
names of Messrs. Young of Epsom, Gaines, Catleugh, Chandler, &c., 
stand pre-eminent: in fact, we are fully borne out by the unanimous 
opinion of the meeting, that the display was equal to anything of the 
kind ever seen. The exhibition was continued in the evening, and a 
lecture was delivered by Mr. Johnston, lecturer on botany at Guy’s 
Hospital. The attendance was highly respectable and numerous. 
The chair was taken by Earl Stanhope, the president, for the first 
time since his election to that office. The lecturer took a general 
view of the nature and growth of flowers and plants, describing 
minutely their internal and external formation and arrangements, 
their properties, and the manner of their forming and depositing their 
