File:Birds and nature (1901) (14568977380).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature91901chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
this is different, for while theyare found in the tropics, they are found inthe other regions as well, and have betterchances for intermingling than the othergroups. This tropical display of Dicotyledonsfurther shows the great prominence ofAmerica in the display of forms. Thisappears not merely in the greater num-ber of peculiar forms and often familieswhich appear in tropical America; butwhenever the continents are paired in thedisplay of forms, America is always oneof the pair, Asia or Africa being the othermember. It will be recognized from what hasbeen said that the whole subject of geo-graphic distribution is a very extensiveone, and that it will be a long time beforethe important facts are recorded. Theimportance of the subject rests not somuch upon the mere presence of certainplants in certain regions, but it has to dowith explaining just why the conditionsare suited to the plants, and also just howthe plants have come to be what they areand where they are. John Merle Coulter.
Text Appearing After Image:
i ROM i HI I ■ :;si VANI 1 . \ CHICAGO:A. w. MUMFORD ruPUSHEl VANILLA. ( Vanilia planifolia, Andrews.) You flavor everything-; you are the vanille of society.—Sydney Smith: Works, p. 329. Vanilla planifolia belongs to the Or-chid family (Orchidaceae), though it hasmany characteristics not common to mostmembers of the family. It is a fleshy,dark-green perennial climber, adheringto trees by its aerial roots, which are pro-duced at the nodes. The stem attains alength of many feet, reaching to the verytops of the supporting trees. The youngplant roots in the ground, but as the stemgrows in length, winding about its sup-port and clinging to it by the aerial roots,it loses the subterranean roots and theplant establishes itself as a saprophyte o;partial parasite, life habits common toorchids. The leaves are entire, dark-green, and sessile. Inflorescence consistsof eight to ten flowers sessile upon axil-lary spikes. The flowers are a pale green-ish yellow, perianth rather fleshy andsoon f

Note About Images