TREE FERNS.
It is called the giant candle, and it certainly looks like one.
The great height of this plant is the more surprising because it grows right out of crevices of rocks where no soil can be seen, and pushes its straight, fleshy stem up into the air without anything to shelter it from the furious winds that often sweep over the country. But it braves the winds, and grows, and grows; and every year puts forth its large white flowers, and bears upon its queer stalk a very savory fruit.
The largest palms rise to a height of 45 feet, and more or sometimes as high as 70 feet—before putting out a single branch. Then they spread out a great plume of feathery leaves. The wax palm of the Andes is said to grow to the height of 200 feet.
In New Zealand, the ferns, that are here so fragile and delicate, grow so high that they look, at a little distance like small palms.
The tallest trees in the world are the giant trees of California. These are from 300 to 350 feet high; and one that was cut down was 450 feet high.
We cannot very well speak of the height of vines, but there are species of these that grow to a very great length. Sometimes one stalk will stretch itself out to the length of 150 yards. Some of the sea-weeds, thrown upon the shore, measure 500 yards in a single strip.
We must again go to the tropics if we want to find large leaves. You have, no doubt, heard of the great water-lily—the Victoria Regia, but I think you would open your eyes if you could get a sight of a river filled with these floating mammoths of leaves. They are from four to eight feet in diameter. They are, in shape, almost circular, and are turned up a little around the edges.
The strength of these leaves is almost as surprising as their size. The fibres are large, and are so woven together on the under side that they form a solid framework to support the upper part of the leaf, which is of a beautiful green, and thick, and velvety. The water-fowl choose these leaves often for sleeping places in the hot nights, and find it very pleasant, doubtless, to be thus rocked on the cool water, in a velvet bed, that will not sink.