ANTIGONON LEPTOPUS. 
This beautiful climber, the subject of our illustration, 
is a native of Nicaragua, and belongs to the natural 
order Polygonacece, a splendid greenhouse plant rivaling 
the Bougainvillea in the abundance and color of its 
blossoms. To be grown in its perfection, it requires a 
high temperature, and humid atmosphere: under such 
conditions it will grow rapidlv, soon covering the 
rafters and every place where it can obtain support. It 
is of slender and elegant habit, the leaves are from 
three to live inches long, dcep-lobed at the base. The 
flowers are rose-colored, produced in large terminal or 
axillary clusters, and in such profusion that there is 
scarcely a leaf to be seen. The chief attraction of the 
flowers is afforded by the sepals, which are half an inch 
long, of a bright rose color. As the flowers are pro¬ 
duced in such abundance, the plant, in its season of 
flowering, presents a brilliant and extremely cheerful 
appearance. Of this plant, Dr. Seemann, its discoverer, 
says: “I am well acquainted with the contents of our 
gardens and the vegetation of most parts of the world, 
but 1 have no hesitation in giving it as my deliberate 
opinion, that there is no more graceful or beautiful 
climber than the Antigonon leptopus.” 
THE WONDERS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
NO. VII. 
Plants as 
In our last number we referred to the tree as a 
chemist, so far only, as it was the agent for transform¬ 
ing poisonous gases into healthful ones, for the suste¬ 
nance of animal life. We now propose to treat the 
subject more in detail, only, however, so far as to show 
that every plant has a special work to perform, that its 
creation was for a specific purpose, and that every plant, 
however humble it may appear, is a necessity in the 
economy of nature. The plant’s sphere of usefulness is 
far more extended and varied than is generally sup¬ 
posed ; there is upon the surface of the earth and in its 
waters more than 140,000 distinct species, that have 
been examined, analyzed and classified. This vast 
number represents an equal number of industries; no 
two are alike; each has its own work to do, and is pro¬ 
vided with all the requisite appliances for its per¬ 
formances. 
Our chemists assert that there are less than sixty 
elementary substances; from various combinations of 
these, every article known in commerce, in the arts 
and sciences, are produced. The plant says there are 
more than 140,000 elementary substances, or as many as 
there are species of plants, all of which they show by 
their various productions. Each and every plant is 
adapted to the necessities of other living organisms in 
the localities where they are indigenous; in every local¬ 
ity the animal and plant support and sustain each 
other, and consume each other. The b~eath of the ox 
is'the food of the grass upon which he feeds, being 
Chemists. 
sustained wholly by the plant and its fruits; in the end, 
every part of his body goes to sustain plant life. 
Let us now, for- a moment, look over the field and 
view the plant industries. The poppy gathers from the 
atmosphere and earth upon which it subsists the well- 
known drug, opium.. In Turkey, that element exists, to 
a remarkable extent, either in the atmosphere or earth, 
the two great sources from which the plant obtains its 
food. There the poppy (Papaver Somniferum) is indig¬ 
enous, created expressly for work it so systematically 
performs. In this country the plant will develop, and 
perfect its growth, but will not yield a drug possessing 
the active principle for which opium is celebrated. 
Why? Simply because there does not exist in our at¬ 
mosphere and earth that elementary substance which 
this plant was created to collect. We next see the 
Maple collecting saccharine juices, and the Hemlock, 
tannin; the Aconite collects and carefully stores in its 
tubers a deadly poison; leaning upon it is the Salvia, 
with healing in its leaves. The Strychnos Nux-vomica 
yields the most deadly of all vegetable poisons, which it 
carefully stores in its seeds, while the pulp that sur¬ 
rounds the seeds is wholesome, and a favorite food of 
birds. The Pine yields resins, the Caoutchouc rubber. 
In our gardens, the potato stores up starch, for the sus¬ 
tenance of man; by its side, so near that their ttibeis 
crowd each other, we see the arum with so much 
acridity in its roots, that a thin slice applied to the 
skin will draw a blister. The two grow side by side in 
