Digitale Ausgabe

Download
TEI-XML (Ansicht)
Text (Ansicht)
Text normalisiert (Ansicht)
Ansicht
Textgröße
Originalzeilenfall ein/aus
Zeichen original/normiert
Zitierempfehlung

Alexander von Humboldt: „[Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales]“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1816-Sur_les_lois-5-neu> [abgerufen am 28.03.2024].

URL und Versionierung
Permalink:
https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1816-Sur_les_lois-5-neu
Die Versionsgeschichte zu diesem Text finden Sie auf github.
Titel [Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales]
Jahr 1819
Ort London
Nachweis
in: The Monthly Magazine; or, British Register 47:5:326 (1. Juni 1819), S. 438–440.
Sprache Englisch
Typografischer Befund Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Schmuck: Kapitälchen.
Identifikation
Textnummer Druckausgabe: III.33
Dateiname: 1816-Sur_les_lois-5-neu
Statistiken
Seitenanzahl: 3
Spaltenanzahl: 4
Zeichenanzahl: 8500

Weitere Fassungen
Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales (Paris, 1816, Französisch)
On the Laws observed in the Distribution of vegetable Forms (London, 1816, Englisch)
Ueber die Gesetze, welche man in der Vertheilung der Pflanzenformen beobachtet. – Auszug aus einer am 5. Febr. 1816. in der Sitzung des Par. Instituts vorgelesenen Abhandlung. Aus dem Franz. der Ann. de Chemie et de Physique, Mars 1816. übersetzt von Dr. Martius (Nürnberg, 1816, Deutsch)
Ueber die Gesetze in der Vertheilung der Pflanzenformen. (Gelesen im franz. Institut am 5ten Hornung 1816) (Jena, 1817, Deutsch)
[Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales] (London, 1819, Englisch)
Humboldt on the Geography of Plants (Edinburgh, 1819, Englisch)
[Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales] (Edinburgh, 1819, Englisch)
[Sur les Lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes végétales] (Edinburgh, 1823, Englisch)
Ueber die Beziehungen, welche in der Vertheilung der Pflanzen-Samen beobachtet werden (Frankfurt am Main, 1830, Deutsch)
|438| |Spaltenumbruch| II. Alexander Count Humboldt hassubmitted to the Institute a curiouspaper, on the laws observed in the distri-bution of vegetable forms over the globe.Botany, long confined to the simple de-scription of the external forms of plants,and their artificial classification, nowpresents several branches of study,which place it more on a footing withthe other sciences. Such are the distri-bution of vegetables, according to anatural method founded upon the wholepart of their structure; physiology,which displays their internal organiza-tion; botanical geography, whichassigns to each tribe of plants theirheight, limits, and climate. The termsalpine plants, plants of hot countries, |439||Spaltenumbruch|plants of the sea-shore, are to be found inall languages, even in those of the mostsavage nations on the banks of theOronoko. They prove that the atten-tion of men has been constantly fixed onthe distribution of vegetables, and ontheir connexion with the temperature ofthe air, the elevation of the soil, and thenature of the ground which they inhabit.It does not require much sagacity to ob-serve, that on the slope of the highmountains of Armenia, vegetables of adifferent latitude follow each in succes-sion, like the elimates, superposed, as itwere, upon each other. The vegetables, says he, which coverthe vast surface of the globe, present,when we study by natural classes orfamilies, striking differences in the dis-tribution of their forms. On limitingthem to the countries in which the num-ber of the species is exactly known, andby dividing this number by that of theglumaceæ, the leguminous plants, thelabiated, and the compound, we findnumerical relations which form veryregular series. We see certain formsbecome more common, from the equatortowards the pole, like the ferns, theglumaceæ, the ericineæ, and the rhodo-dendrons. Other forms, on the contrary,increase from the poles towards theequator, and may be considered in ourhemisphere as southern forms: such arethe rubiaceæ, the malvaceæ, the eu-phorbia, the leguminous, and the com-posite, plants. Finally, others attaintheir maximum even in the temperatezone, and diminish also towards theequator and the poles; such are thelabiated plants, the amentaceæ, thecruciferæ, and the umbelliferæ. Thegrasses form in England 1-12th, inFrance 1-13th, in North America 1-10th,of all the phanerogamous plants. Theglumaceæ form in Germany 1-7th, inFrance 1-8th, in North America 1-8th,in New Holland, according to the re-searches of Mr. Brown, 1-8th, of theknown phanerogamous plants. Thecomposite plants increase a little in thenorthern part of the new continent; for,according to the new Flora of Pursch,there is between the parallels ofGeorgia and Boston 1-6th, whereas inGermany we find 1-8th, and in France1-7th, of the total number of the species,with visible fructification. In the wholetemperate zone, the glumaceæ and thecomposite plants, form together, nearlyone-fourth of the phanerogamous plants;the glumaceæ, the compositæ, thecruciferæ, and the leguminosæ, together,|Spaltenumbruch|nearly one-third. It results from theseresearches, that the forms of organizedbeings are in a mutual dependence; andthat the unity of nature is such, that theforms are limited, the one after theother, according to constant laws easyof determination. The number of vegetable species de-scribed by botanists, or existing in Eu-ropean herbals, extends to 44,000, ofwhich 6000 are agamous. In this num-ber we had already included 3000 newphanerogamous species enumerated byM. Bompland and myself. France, ac-cording to M. Decandolle, possesses3645 phanerogamous plants, of which460 are glumaceæ, 490 composite, and230 leguminous, &c. In Lapland thereare only 497 phanerogamous plants;among which are 124 glumaceæ, 58composite, 14 leguminous, 23 amentace-ous, &c. Mr. Pursch has made us acquaintedwith 2000 phanerogamous plants whichgrow between the parallels of 35° and44°; consequently, under mean annualtemperatures of 16° and 7°. The floraof North America is a mixture of severalfloras. The southern regions give it anabundance of malvaceæ and compositeplants; the northern regions, colder thanEurope, under the same parallel, furnishto this flora abundance of rhodonden-drons, amentaceæ, and coniferæ. Thecaryophylleæ, the umbelliferæ, and thecruciferæ, are in general more rare inNorth America, than in the temperatezone of the old continent. These constant relations observed onthe surface of the globe, in the plainsfrom the equator to the pole, are againtraced in the midst of perpetual snowson the summits of mountains. We mayadmit, in general, that on the cordillerasof the torrid zone, the boreal forms be-come more frequent. It is thus that wesee prevail at Quito, on the summit ofthe Andes, the ericineæ, the rhododen-drons, and the gramineous plants. Onthe contrary, the labiatæ, the rubiaceæ,the malvaceæ, and the euphorbiaceæ,then become as rare as they are inLapland. But this analogy is not sup-ported in the ferns and the compositeplants. The latter abound on theAndes, whereas the former graduallydisappear when they rise above 1800fathoms in height. Thus the climate ofthe Andes resembles that of northernEurope only with respect to the meantemperature of the year. The reparti-tion of heat into the different seasons isentirely different, and powerfully influ- |440| ences the phenomena of vegetation. Ingeneral, the forms which prevail amongthe alpine plants, are, according to myresearches, under the torrid zone, thegramineæ (ægopogon, podosæmum,deyeuxia, avena); the compositæ (cul-citium, espeletia, aster, baccharis): andthe caryophylleæ (arenaria, stellaria.)Under the temperate zone, the com-positæ (senecio, leontodon, aster); thecaryophylleæ (cerastium, cherleria, si-lene); and the cruciferæ (draba,lepidium.) Under the frozen zone, thecaryophylleæ (stellaria, alsine); theericineæ (andromeda), and the ranun-enlaceæ. It has been long known, andit is one of the most interesting resultsfrom the geography of animals, thatno quadruped, no terrestrial bird, and,as appears from the researches of M.Latreille, almost no insect, is commonto the equatorial regions of the twoworlds. M. Cuvier is convinced, byprecise inquiries, that this rule applieseven to reptiles. He has ascertained,that the true boa constrictor is peculiarto America; and that the boas of the oldcontinent, were pytons. Among theplants, we must distinguish between theagamæ and the cotyledoneæ; and byconsidering the latter between the mo-nocotylodens and the dicotyledons.There remains no doubt that many of themosses and lichens are to be found atonce in equinoctial America and in Eu-rope. But the case is not the same withthe vascular agamæ as with the agamæof a cellular texture. The ferns and thelycopodiaceæ do not follow the samelaws with the mosses and the lichens.|Spaltenumbruch|The former, in particular, exhibit veryfew species universally to be found; andthe examples cited are frequently doubt-ful. As to the phanerogamous plants(with the exception of the rhizophora,the avicennia, and some other littoralplants), the law of Buffon seems to beexact with respect to the species fur-nished with two cotyledons. It is abso-lutely false, although it has been oftenaffirmed, that the ridges of the cordillerasof Peru, the climate of which has someanalogy with the climate of France orSweden, produce similar plants. Theoaks, the pines, the yews, the ranunculi,the rose-trees, the alchemilla, thevalerians, the stellaria, the draba of thePeruvian and Mexican Andes, havenearly the same physiognomy with thespecies of the same genera of NorthAmerica, Siberia, or Europe. But allthese alpine plants of the cordilleras,without excepting one among three orfour thousand which we have examined,differ specifically from the analogousspecies of the temperate zone of the oldcontinent. In general, in that part ofAmerica situated between the tropics,the monocotyledontal plants alone, andamong the latter almost solely thecyperaceæ and the gramineæ, are com-mon to the two worlds. These twofamilies form an exception to the generallaw which we are here examining,—alaw which is so important for the historyof the catastrophes of our planet, andaccording to which, the organized beingsof the equinoctial regions differ essen-tially in the two continents.