With plants, a considerable change of climate sometimes produces a conspicuous
result. I have given in the ninth chapter the most remarkable case known to
me, namely, that of varieties of maize, which were greatly modified in the
course of only two or three generations when taken from a tropical country to
a cooler one, or conversely. Dr. Falconer informs me that he has seen the
English Ribston-pippin apple, a Himalayan oak, Prunus and Pyrus, all assume in
the hotter parts of India a fastigiate or pyramidal habit; and this fact is
the more interesting, as a Chinese tropical species of Pyrus naturally grows
thus. Although in these cases the changed manner of growth seems to have been
directly caused by the great heat, we know that many fastigiate trees have
originated in their temperate homes. In the Botanic Gardens of Ceylon the
apple-tree (23/22. 'Ceylon' by Sir J.E. Tennent volume 1 1859 page 89.) "sends
out numerous runners under ground, which continually rise into small stems,
and form a growth around the parent-tree.) The varieties of the cabbage which
produce heads in Europe fail to do so in certain tropical countries (23/23.
Godron 'De l'Espece' tome 2 page 52.) The Rhododendron ciliatum produced at
Kew flowers so much larger and paler-coloured than those which it bears on its
native Himalayan mountain, that Dr. Hooker (23/24. 'Journal of Horticultural
Soc.' volume 7 1852 page 117.) would hardly have recognised the species by the
flowers alone. Many similar facts with respect to the colour and size of
flowers could be given.
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