Freaks and marvels of plant life; or, Curiosities of vegetation / by M.C. Cooke.

  • Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Freaks and marvels of plant life; or, Curiosities of vegetation / by M.C. Cooke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    they were believed to be harmless, and to live upon dew, they were addressed by endearing epithets, and regarded as almost divine. Happy creature ! what below Can more happy live than thou P Seated on thy leafy throne, Summer weaves thy verdant crown ; Sipping o’er the pearly lawn The fragrant nectar of the dawn. Plants, regarded in their relationship to different nations and races, have been the theme of more than one writer on botanical geography.1 There are many suggestions in such a view which are of interest, and we may, in passing, allude to two or three instances. The South Sea Islands are associated with the bread- fruit tree, which is the staple food-plant to the natives of Oceania. The lower Coral Islands have the cocoa- nut palm, which grows abundantly in the Indian Islands between Asia and Australia, and on the coasts of India. The New Zealand flax (Phormium tencix) is characteristic of the islands from which it derives its name. Amongst the Island Malays we find the clove and nutmeg. Maize was the original posses- sion of the American races. Before the time of the Europeans the maguey plant was the vine of the 1 Schouw, p. 223, etc. C
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