Freaks and marvels of plant life; or, Curiosities of vegetation
Short Description
A dated but still interesting tome about unusual plants. Includes carnivorous plants, sensitive plants, plants that &quo...
Description
Freaks and Marvels OF
Plant Life
^'L
'^''lA
^'4'
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
FREAKS AND MARVELS LIBRARY
PLANT LIFE;
YORK BOTANICAL ^'e'w
GARDcrS
OR,
CURIOSITIES OF VEGEIATION
BV
M.
C.
COOKE, M.A.
LL.D.
AUTHOR OF PONDS AND DITCHES," " THE WOODLANDS,"
ETC. ETC.
FOURTH THOUSAND.
PUBLISHED UMDEK THE DIRECTION OF THE COiMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, S.W. ;
43,
QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G. 48, PICCADILLY, AND 133, NORTH STREET, BRIGHTON. ;
New York
:
E.
&
J.
1882.
B.
Young &
Co.
W.
;
CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.
-j1
III.
VENUS'S FLY-TRAP
50
IV.
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS
72
V.
VL VIL VIIL IX.
•^
%
riTCHER-PLANTS
MINOR CARNIVORA.
...'.,.
GYRATION OF PLANTS
150
HELIOTROPES, OR SUNFLOWERS
TWINERS AND CLIMBERS
122
.
.
....
I/O 1
84
SENSITIVE PLANTS
220
XL
SLEEP OF PLANTS
239
METEORIC FLOWERS
259
XIH.
HYGROSCOPISM
275
XIV.
DISPERSION
291
MIMICRY
321
GIANTS
345
TEMPERATURE
37
'
XV.
XVL
g^j
XVIL
0^
XVIIL
U'J
XIX.
c>
'>
X.
XIL
•"^^
I
J^i7£-C
THE SUNDEWS
II.
.
INTRODUCTION
XX.
LUMINOSITY
383
MYSTIC PLANTS
4OI
FLOWERS OF HISTORY
446
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
page
fk;. 1.
Round-leaved Sundew,
2.
Section of gland of
3.
Leaf with tentacles of
4.
Venus's Fiy-trap, Dioncea miiscipida
51
5.
\.&zS oi Aldrovanda, enlarged
68
6.
Glands on leaf of Drosophylhtm, magnified
69
7.
Pitchers of Sarraccnia variolaris, reduced
8.
Pitcher of irtrr^rt-w/a
9.
San-accnia purpurea
7^
Pitchers of Darlingtonia
96
10.
Z>;-(7Ji.v«
r^/z/W^vVi?
Z'/'^j^ra; roAvwa^/^/Za:,
Z'r^j'^rrt 7-(7///«i///i'//t7,
/«;^wm,
24
magnified
25
enlarged
30
76
reduced, with section
77
102
oi Nepenthes bicalcaraia
11.
V\'i.c^\zx
12.
Pitcher oi Nepentlies Chelsoni
IIO
Section of hood of Nepenthes Chelsoni
Ill
14.
Pitcher of
I15
15.
Section of pitcher of
16.
Glands of
1 7.
Butterwort (Pingitieiila Ltisitaniea)
1 23
18.
Leaf of Butterwort with the edges curved inwards
126
19.
Yj\2iAditx\\'ox\.
20.
Bladder of Utrieularia vulgaris, enlarged
1
21.
Trifolium subterraneum
166
1
3.
Ct;/'/^a/^///i-
116
CV//;rt/i3///5
117
Q^/^a/^/z/j, in section
131
{Utricitlaria vnlgaris)
fruit
32
22.
Natal Climbing Plant {Ceropegia Samlersoni)
192
23.
VAlitr-S-wcet {Solannni dulcamara)
193
24.
The Twining Polygonum
25.
Leaf of Bomarea Carderi, the petiole twisted
26.
Traveller's
27.
Swollen petiole of
28.
Common
29.
Climbing Corydalis {Corydalis
(/^i?/j'^(?««/« rc/«(7/j7//?/j')
versal of the leaf
195
in the re-
197
Joy ( Clematis
vitallia)
C/67«fl//j- tvVa/'^a
Fumitory (Fumaj-ia
officinalis)
claviciilata)
200 202 204 205
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. TAGE
FIG.
30.
IlookeJ
31.
Tendrils of Virginia creeper, with discs attached
Tu'eciiiaiia.
foot
like
tendril,
of
a
bird,
from Bignonia
Tip of hook magnified
2IO 212
32.
Tendrils of Virginia creeper, discs not attached
212
33.
TenCLxWs oi Passijlora
214
34.
C\ea.veYS
35.
Leaves of sensitive plant, A/tmosa/^iedica,
{Ga/ium
cditlis
aj>an'/2e)
av^'ake
and asleep
{Pamassm palustris)
215 222
36.
Grass of Parnassus
37.
Flowers of Epilobium
38.
Leaves of Wood-sorrel
39.
41.
awake and asleep Leaf of Acacia Farnesiaiia, awake Leaf of ^c-flc/a: ivr^/ii-j/awa:, in a sleeping condition
42.
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis a>-vensis)
43. 44.
Evening Primrose ( CEnothera biemiis) Bee Orchis {Op /uys api/cra)
45.
Snipe Orchis
46.
'Flowers oi Pachysfonia Thomsoiii
270 270
47.
Dciiih-ob'nim D'Albertisii
271
48.
Zebra Orchis ( Oncidiitm
49.
Wild oat
50.
CapsMles oi Mesembrj'antheiiiinn
51
Capsule of Mescrnbryanthontiiii tiipoHnin open
40.
.
233
234 244
'
Leaflets of Clover,
zcbrinitin)
(.icv«ay^///«)
247 253 253 263 266
269
272 276
(ripoliiitn closed
283 283
52.
Sand-box {Hiira crepitans)
284
53.
Balsam {Impaticns)
293
54.
Caltrops, or fruits of Tribultis tcrrcstris
55.
YrviSxs
56. 57.
Burdock (Z«//a wzw/') Hooked fruits of Martynla diandra
299 299 300 302
58.
Fruit of Proboscidca Jussieui, reduced
303
59.
Fruit of Grapnel plant, natural size {Harpagophytum Icpto-
60.
YrvSX.
61.
Fruit of Trapa bispinosa
305
62.
Yxvdt oi Gaktiia xanthophylla, SMspended
63.
Receptacle of the Egyptian Bean {Nchimbittm speciosum)...
307 30S
64.
yio-ake'j Vo\.s {Lecythes sp.)
309
oi Pcdalium miircx
carpinii)
oi Ti-apa bico}-nis
304 305
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE. PAGK
FIG.
{CoiiroKpila gitianensis)
65.
Q.7i.\\nor\.'Qz!^
66.
Euphorbia, resembling a Cactus growing amongst rocks
67.
Xowa^^XzxA.'i o{ Sahnitia, Jitssicea rcpens, Phyllanthiis
329
6S.
3^7
69.
Lycopodium compactuin AzorcUa selago
70.
l.esS oi Call ha dioncefolia
3^7 32S
71.
Actinotus
329
72.
Kocli Kose (Ifel/ant/iemtim)
73.
Seeds of Messiiafo-rca, natural
74.
Samara of
75.
Samara of
76.
Seed of Calosanthes indica
334
77.
334-
78.
Seed oi Zanonia macrocarpa Crested seed oi Sarcostcmma, Echitcs scabra. Willow-herb {Epilohium), jNIilk Thistle (^//)'/'«w war/rt;ww)
79.
?iVi2\^Q TxvA.
So.
Giant
Si.
Rafflcsia Anioldi, from a
52.
363,
85.
Flower of AristolocJiia Goldieana reduced Wake-robin (y/;-«;« ;;/a«//a///w) Egyptian Lotus {Nyinphaa stellata) Lady with Lotus riower, from Theban tomb
86.
Daffodil (N'arcissiis psciidonarcissiis)
415
S7
Jesuitic
432'
8S.
Maracoc Passion Flower [Passijlora cincinnata)
89.
Medicago echinus
437'
90.
W\%\\t\.QQ {^Visciun albian)
438-
91.
440*
92.
Male Mandrake Female Mandrake
93.
YiToom (Sarothaninus scoparius)
44S'
94.
Coiion Thistle {Onopordum acanihium)
95.
Musk
96.
Scotch coin of 1602
97.
Scotch coin of 1599
453 454 455 45S
314. in
Damara Land
323-
33°'
33
size
Seciiridaca lomentosa,
Heteropterys laiirifoUa,
Gallesia goraneina, Scgiiicra JJoribiinda
trifoliata,
53.
84.
Ulinits
canipestris,
Uhmis
Ptelca
Hircea
333-
[Qphiocaryon serpcntintium)
Arum
33montaiia,
cw'i o'^tx\.
343.
{Amorphophallus Titanum) greatly reduced photograph of the living
Thistle [Cai-duus nutans)
336-
...
flower...
559
36a 375 409-
411
436-
442
FREAKS OF PLANT
CHAPTER
LIFE.
I.
Introduction.
THIS work
has been undertaken for the purpose
of presenting in a popular form, devoid as
prominent features
which have
in the investigations
much
of late years contributed so
much
some of the most
as possible of technical language,
to our
knowledge
phenomena of vegetable life. The labours especially of Mr. Darwin in this direction deserve to be more generally known than they are. Unfor-
of the
tunately,
the
dread
which
non- scientific
exhibit at the outside of a
scientific
prevents any attempt at understanding
Hence we have made an results
to
effort
its
as
succinct
often
contents.
summarise the
of these and similar experiments,
present in
persons
book
and to
a manner as the subjects
permitted, their teachings.
Some
gations, as, for instance, those chiefly of interest to botanists,
on
elaborate investifertilisation,
and could be
are little
understood or appreciated by the general public
B
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
these have, therefore, not been considered as falling-
within the limits of this volume.
On
the other hand,,
chapters are introduced on subjects which have not
yet been submitted to exhaustive examination, but
which have, nevertheless, great popular fall
interest
legitimately within the scope of the
use has been
made
of
all
title.
and Free
sources of information,
under the conviction that the better these experi-
ments are known and understood, the greater and
more general
be the appreciation of the labours
will
who have contributed so much to of obscure phenomena in plant-life.
of those
dation
the eluci-
Text-books remind us of the importance of the vegetable world
They
in
its
relationship to the
grandeur and beauty which
also illustrate the
the plant has conferred on the world. to form
animal.
It is difficult
any adequate conception of the vast extent
All we can and unlimited variety of vegetable life. do is to pick up here and there some object of special interest, gaze at
prehend
it,
if
we
can,
it,
marvel at
it,
and then pass
try to
com-
on, leaving
behind us a trackless ocean of wonderful things, to
be picked up by our successors, and marvelled at as
we have
done.
house
exhausted.
Wc
is
It will
be very long before the store-
learn to appreciate
what has been written of
wild forests only by experience. feeling
(to
that
of
"
a sea-voyage)
A
very similar
possesses
the
INTRODUCTION. traveller as
he penetrates an extensive
morning he commences
Every
forest.
his journey, patiently pur-
suing the winding pathways through interminable
multitudes of trees and shrubs, arrives,
he
till,
when evening
hardly less fatigued with the mono-
is
tony of the scene than with the exertions of the
His feelings are the same as those at sea
day.
he
is
surprised at the interminable character of the
and
scene,
his ideas of space are
He
greater standard.
tudes
beings
vegetable
of
measured by a
wonders at the vast multi;
whence
they
could
possibly have drawn nourishment to rear such solid structures
;
he speculates on their age, and lastly on In both cases the ideas of space are the
their use.
same, but they have received an impulse from the novelty of the scene
;
perhaps assisted also by the
perfect stillness, which reigns so completely in deep forests,
more
and during the heat of the day the silence
painful than
difference
on the wide ocean.
between the two
is
waters, the other a sea of trees." It is
fairly
ours,
that one
The is
is
chief
a sea of
^
a very natural inquiry, and one which
may be
considered as a prelude to a subject such as
what number of
different kinds, or species, of
plants are supposed to be found on the surface of the
globe
'
.''
This
Hinds
in
is
a question which has been pro-
"Annals of Nat. V,
2
Hist.," xv. (1845), p. 89.
FREAKS OF PLANT pounded
before,
and more than once
The
been attempted.^ estimates
it
LIFE.
rather a
solution has
its
history of these progressive
curious one.
commences
It
390 B.C. with Theophrastus, and he enumerated 500 kinds of plants. This may be presumed to represent all
that were then known.
of
King Solomon had,
limits,
The
botanical knowledge
then, comparatively narrow
even though he discoursed on
the cedar of
Lebanon
Pliny (A.D. 79) increased the
on the
number of
number had
the seventeenth century the
wall.
plants to
In the beginning of
double that of his predecessor.
increased to
The second edition of Linnseus's great book
6,000.
included no more than 1807,
plants from
all
to the hyssop
Willdenow, up to
8,800.
had detected 17,457 species of flowering
From this period the increase known species was very rapid, stimulus
given
botany
to
in
the
plants.
number of
as a result of the
by Linnaeus
and
his
successors, so that at the beginning of the present
century Robert Brown had calculated the flowering plants at 37,000, and
and non-flowering, Progressing
'
Humboldt
all
plants, flowering
at 44,000.
still
further
down
the stream of time,
R. B. Hinds on "Geographical Botany,''
Hist.," XV. (1845), P- 15-
Botany" p. 276.
(1857), p. 659.
"Annals of Nat.
^- Henfrey, "Elementary Course of
Humboldt,
"
Views of Nature
"
(1850),
IXTRODUCriON. in
Dc
1820,
Candolle calculated that at the least
known.
56,000 species of plants were the
that
Herbarium
number of figure,
Delessert contained
and that the as
many
all
was found the
in
was estimated
M.
collection of
as 86,000 species in
had estimated
1847, although Dr. Lindley
that
It
preserved
species
at the Jardin des Plantes
same
at the
5
in
1835
the plants in the world might be included in
that number.
Humboldt entered upon a series of calculations, this time, to show that all these estimates fell short of the number which might be supposed to about
"
exist.
Such considerations," he
writes,
"
which
purpose developing more fully at the close of illustration,
seem
to verify the ancient
myth
Zend-Avesta that the creating primeval
1
this
of the
force called
forth 120,000 vegetable forms from the sacred blood
of the bull."
In 1845 Mr. R. B. Hinds estimated the
of phanerogamic
total
is
in
and cryptogamic plants at
The next
134,000 species.
Henfrey (1857)
at
estimate
we meet with
213,000, but
in
1855
De
Candolle had, by another process of reasoning, come to the conclusion
that the total could not be
than 375,000 for flowering plants. calculations will
less
Doubtless, these
go on increasing, as the highest
is
found to be inadequate to represent even the whole
number the
of described species.
very lowest
estimate of
At
the present time
authentic
species
of
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. cryptogamia
be
cannot
than
less
and
50,000,
probably considerably exceed that number.
we have somewhat of an approximate what may be regarded a very low estimate,
Here, then, idea, at
number of species of
of the
face of the earth.
plants scattered over the
always best
It is
in
such calcu-
lations to under-estimate rather than over-estimate,
we
and
if
not
less
feel
confidence in asserting that there are
than 500,000 distinct and different species
of vegetable organisms distributed
and water,
including land that
satisfied
that the
we have permitted
It
is
in
for
excess even of
we
feel
believing
tliat
which
ourselves to affirm.
."curiosity "
is
in respect
to the relative
some we know to be very large, and very small, what then is the average size
sizes of plants
others are
over the globe,
because
we have good grounds
number
Another
is
it
;
.''
has been calculated, in the animal world, that
between the largest living animal known on the one hand, and the smallest which the microscope has revealed, the middle place, between both extremes, is
occupied by the
common
house-fly.
If
we
pursue-
a similar plan with plants, and estimate the smallest flowering plant to be the
minor) feet,
^
little
Duckweed {Lenina
and the largest a Eucalyptus
the intermediate form
some such an herbaceous plant about 20 inches high.
tree of
420
will be, as respects length,
But
if
as a St. John's
we
Wort,
include, as in the
INTRODUCTION. case of the animal world, microscopic
plants,
irre-
spective of fructification, then, with a small cellular alga, consisting of a single cell, 'Oi
mm.
in diameter,
or the one two thousand five hundredth part of an
we
inch as the lowest extreme, tudinal extension
shall have, in longi-
the middle place occupied
onl}-,
by
a small moss, such as Fiinaria hygrojuetrica, with a height of
total
other words, the
tall
little
tree of the
moss.
for bulk,
It
moss would be
little
higher than the one the
than an inch-and-a-half.
less
cell
of the
Eucalyptus
would be
and estimate
size
in
all
little
times
green alga as
higher than the
difficult to calculate
how many such
to ascertain
is
many
as
little
In
bulk
directions, so as cells as
those of
the alga would be required to build up the trunk of
such a tree so far
the
;
but the number would be enormous,
beyond human experience of numbers that
mind would
The
fail
to appreciate their relationship.
intermediate form
although
because,
animals,
larger
is
there
in plants
than in
animals
are
as
small as 'Oi mm., there are none reaching 420 feet in height.
Important as are the uses of plants to man, as the source of food, clothing, and medicine,
it
has hardly
been considered as coming within the scope of
volume
to refer to
them
in
this aspect,
this
our object
being rather to present an accumulation of curious
and
interesting
facts
in
the
structure,
habits,
or
FREAKS OF PLANT
8
phenomena
of plants which
LIFE.
have
hitherto either
been scattered through journals, or presented pages of
scientific
fluence
some
subjects,
and
By this means we we may possibly in-
read.
to
that
ourselves
flattered
the
books such as the general public
do not take the trouble have
in
to take a greater interest in botanical
phenomena
the
in
of plant
than
life,
they had previously done. It is
may
a fact worth
be conducive to
destroying
malaria
planting of any
"
remembering that vegetation
human in
health and comfort in
pestilential
gross feeder
" in
The
districts.
such places would
be beneficial, and the claims which have been ad-
vanced on behalf of the Australian gum-tree, might, extent, be
to a certain
other trees.
urged on behalf of
many
Experience has proved that the planting
of any trees which will thrive well and flourish in
malarious places, at once produces a marked change for the better,
and hygienic plantations need not to
be confined to the Eucalyptus. be,
it
is
interesting to note
globulus has papers, its
found
its
what patronage
how
way it
However
may
speedily Eucalyptus
into the public
how
news-
in despite of
has received
binomial appellation, and
this
cultivation
its
is
becoming an article of faith and practice in Europe, Asia, and America, from Rome to Berlin, and from Calcutta to California. There are but few instances on record of a similar vegetable success.
LXTRODLCTION. October,
In
"Comptes Renclus"^
is
times
its
The
A
leaves.
1867:
for its
fever.
much
absorbs as
It
pestilential
there, since
air
in
as
and
soil,
vapour
antiseptic
thousand
thirteen
planted
grows rapidly
from
some twenty miles from
farm,
was noted
tree
weight of water from the
camphoraceous
emits
in
the malarious agency which
in destro}-ing
supposed to cause
ten
narrated
the results of his experiments with
the Eucalyptus- in Algeria.
and aids
Gimbert
]\Ions.
1873,
its
Algiers,
the spring of
Eucalyptus
were
trees
which time not a single case
of fever had occurred.
Numerous other
cases
like
are cited.
The honour gum-tree
But
this
is is
of discovering this property
due b}'
to
Sir
no means the only use of the
valuable as a timber
is
W. tree.
The
bees.
the
tree.
It
flowers also yield
a large quantit)' of honey and are
by
in
Macarthur, of Sydney.'^
much
frequented
All parts of the tree are said to be useful
as a febrifuge medicine,
and the leaves when smoked
are efficacious in allaying pain, calming irritation, and
procuring sleep.
^
"
Cigars
Comptes Rendus," Oct. 6
made
of the leaves were
(1873), P- 7^4;
Nov. 22, 1873. - Eucalyptus globulus. " Naudin on Plantations Hygieniques (1861), p. 205.
in
"Gard. Chron.,"
'-Revue Horticole'^
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
Exhibition
of
exhibited at
the
recommended
as being very efficient in promoting
A
chemist at Melbourne also prepares
digestion.
cigarettes from
employed
Paris
the foliage, which
in bronchial
1867,
^rid
he urges to be
and asthmatic
In
affections.
Mauritius the leaves are sold at sixpence per ounce
make an
to
with success all
infusion which has been in
malarious fevers
administered
and, as a reward for
;^
these virtues, as a return for such beneficent work
on behalf of humanity,
tree
this
is
now being
dis-
tributed almost over the habitable globe, wherever
the white man's foot has trodden.
The
sunflower has a reputation similar to that "
of the Australian gum-tree.
Washington, U.
marshy year
fever
after the
S.,
situation,
was
was placed and
rife
at in
The Observatory in
certain
the
at
a very unhealthy periods
of
the
neighbourhood, but
ground was annually sown with sunflower
the sanitary condition was
much improved."
It is
by the same authority- as that of the above fact, that " a Dutch landed proprietor upon the banks of the Scheldt, planted some plots of also stated
sunflowers near his houses,
and that the tenants
enjoyed afterwards complete immunity from mias-
'
•'•
" Lancet," April 20, 1872.
"Gardener's Chronicle," Nov. 22 (1873), pp.
15, 67.
n
INTRODUCTION.
matic fever, although that disease continued to be prevalent in the neighbourhood.
In the swampy-
regions of the Punjab district in India the sunflower
grown in some places in large plantations with marked success, its influence tending to remove malaria, and thus benefit the health of residents in
is
those
districts.
The
Agri-Horticultural Society of the
Punjab, after investigating the subject, published a report in which the extension of the cultivation of this useful plant
was strongly recommended.
This curious subject would hardly have
fallen in its
place in any of the subsequent chapters and
is
there-
fore alluded to here, in connection with another
to be presently mentioned, rather altogether.
The
one
than be omitted
influence of vegetation on climate
has already received attention in another place,^ and
needs no
repetition,
although
with the facts just referred
to.
it
At
an
has
might have shown how, and why, such vegetation, as
petrating
Eucalyptus
that
a
such is
affinity
we
the same time
kind
of
of the mangrove, aids in per-
malarious
believed to cure.
atmosphere
As an
as
the
illustration
of the manner, and the extent, to which the vegetation of a country
may
be modified and completely
changed by external circumstances, we
1
" Natural History
Cooke.
Rambles
:
may
refer to
The Woodlands," by M.
C.
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
South Africa/ of which Dr. John Shaw has given a account, the
graphic
modif}'ing influence being in
this case the introduction of the
Merino sheep. After
alluding to the introduction of a noxious bur-weed {XaiitliiiiJii
sheep were but
in
he
spinosiivi), first
sa}'s
that
when
these
introduced they fed mainly on grasses,
a country with periodical rains and a high sun
way and succumb. Shrubby
these plants had to give
were not eaten as long as the grass was
plants
prominent.
But the grass vanished rapidly, and the
scrub came to be the main resource of the flocks, and the ground was given over to bush, and scrub, and
The
obnoxious herbs.
climate then
became
affected,
the hardy plants of the southern desert tracts spread
northward, and the pleasant country was rapidly
becoming
an
extension
deserted Karoo.
Some
"
says, " are poisoned
scrubby,
of dreary,
half-
tracts of the country,"
he
by the extraordinary increase of
the Tripteris Jlexnosa, and transport riders, with their
oxen, our only carrying power, have to travel through without pausing, on
account of the
certain
parts
Meliccs,
grasses which have increased to an extent
scarcely to be fancied in the last few years, and on
eating which cattle become affected with intoxication to an alarming extent."
'
in
On
This
is
only one example,
the changes going on in the Vegetation of South Africa,
"Linnean Journal,"
vol. xiv. (1874), p. 202.
IXTROD L'CTIOX. out of
how
many which might have been
1
the surface of the earth
adduced, to show
undergoing great
is
modification and alteration, through the disturbing
and colonisation, some of
influences of civilisation these,
such as the destruction
of
forests,
having
produced disastrous consequences on the climate.
During 1877, a paragraph went the round of the papers respecting a singular tree, which, although
it
did
not profess to destroy miasma, was no less beneficial,
inasmuch as
in dry places, and was anticipated, would convert all
provided moisture
it
the "Rain-tree,"
it
deserts into paradise.
the sun
"
the
same
As
there
is
"nothing new under
story, or nearly so, has
been found
on record more than a century previously, to the following effect " Near the mountains of Vera Paz :
(Guatemala) we came out on a large plain, where were
numbers of of unusual
fine deer, size,
compass of ground. distance
off,
we began
and
in
spreading
the middle stood a tree
its
We
had perceived,
the ground about
to be
somewhat
branches over a vast
it
surprised, as well
there had been no rain fallen for near six past.
At
dropping, of every
last,
to our great amazemicnt,
or, as it leaf."^
at
to be wet, at
some which
knowing months
we saw water
were, distilling fast from the end
The new
story,
on the authority of
" Journey Overland from the Gulf of Honduras," by John 1 Cockburn, London (1735), PP- 40"4--
FREAKS OF PLANT
H
LIFE.
the United States Consul, related to
Northern Peru, where
"
the tree
is
Moyobamba
in
stated to absorb
and condense the humidity of the atmosphere with astonishing energy, and it is said that the water may frequently be seen to ooze from the trunk, and rain
from
its
The
tree
is
such quantity that the
branches, in
ground beneath
is
fall in
converted into a perfect swamp.
said to possess this property in the highest
degree during the
summer
when was
season principally,
the rivers are low, and water
scarce,
is
whence
suggested that the tree should be planted
it
in
the
arid regions of Peru, for the benefit of the farmers there."
Thus much
for the story, as
obtained currency,
it
which requires some modification
in face of
the facts.
The
whole subject was investigated, and narrated
Mr.
W.
this
we glean
of the
"
Caracas
The still
whole day a
'
-
:
states'-
leaves are
tree,
—
the following facts Rain-tree " was determined as PitJiccolobiimi
sainan.
the
by
From The scientific name
T. Thistelton Dyer, in the year 1878.1
Director of the Botanic Gardens at :
In the
delicate
fine
even
"
in
month of April the young
and transparent.
spray of rain the driest
is
air,
During the
to be noticed
under
so that the strongly
"Nature," February 28 (1878), pp. 349, 350. Professor Ernst in " Lotanische Zeitung " (1876), pp.
35, 36.
INTRODUCTION.
15
The phetinted iron-clay soil is distinctly moist. nomenon diminishes with the development of the He leaves, and ceases when they are fully grown." attributes the rain to secretion from glands
footstalk of the leaf,
on the
on which drops of liquid are
found, which are rapidly renewed on being removed
with blotting-paper.
Another explanation, furnished by Dr. Spruce, the South American
traveller,
appears to set the question
The Tamia-caspi, or Rain-tree of the Eastern Peruvian Andes is not a myth, but a fact, although not exactly in the way popular rumour has lately presented it. I first witnessed the phenomenon in September, 1855, when residing at Tarapolo, a town, or large village, a few days eastward of Moyobamba. A little after seven o'clock we came under a lowish at
"
rest.^
spreading
tree,
from which, with a perfectly clear sky
overhead, a smart rain was falling.
showed a multitude of the tender forth
young branches and
slender
streams
A glance upwards
cicadas, sucking the juices of
of
leaves,
limpid
and squirting
My
fluid.
two
Peruvians were already familiar with the phenomenon,
and they knew very well that almost any in a state to afford food
cicada,
to the nearly
tree,
when
omnivorous
might become a Tamia-caspi, or Rain-tree.
'
"
Kew Gardens
Report for 1878," pp.
46, 47.
FREAKS OF PLAXT
1
LIFE.
This particular tree was evidently, from
Among
Acacia.
cicada feed,
one closely
is
by cicadas
many more
are I
is
Another leguminous
Andira
Although
cannot specify.
inermis,
and other
of the same,
I
an
have seen
I
to the Acacias, the
allied
beautiful PitJiccolobiiim sainan. tree visited
its foliage,
the trees on which
and there
families,
which
never heard the name,
Tamia-caspi, applied to any particular kind of tree
during a residence of two years in the region where is
now I
Eastern Peru, that
left
given to some
but
branches in
tree,
my
'
moisture
in
from
pouring
;
be found responsible the
and
leaves
an abundant shower,' the same as
it
was
time."
romance
admitted rainy
name may have been
still
Although, unfortunately, the
quite possible that,
with a greater drip than ordinary
expect the cicada will
I
the
for
it is
space of twenty-one years that have elapsed
in the
since
said to be a specialty,
it
out Dr.
that
of
Ernst
mist in Venezuela
explanation takes
this
the
Rain-tree, is is
it
of opinion
must be that
the
produced without the
is still some Under any circumstances,
intervention of insects, and that there
mystery to be explained. the
story
allusion to
the
is
of sufficient
it
in
present
volume,
phenomena not
interest
to
warrant an
the introduction to the subjects of
which
may
readily accounted
for.
contain
other
Cicadas were
great favourites with the ancient Greeks, by
whom
LXTRODUCTIOX. they were belie\'cd 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
?
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.^ There are many suggestions in such a view which are of interest, and
we may, in passing, allude to two or three The South Sea Islands are associated with fruit tree,
which
of Oceania.
is
instances.
the bread-
the staple food-plant to the natives
The lower
Coral Islands have the cocoa-
nut palm, which grows abundantly
in
Indian
the
Islands between Asia and Australia, and on the coasts
of India. is
its
The New Zealand
flax
characteristic of the islands
name.
Amongst
the Island Malays
Maize was the
clove and nutmeg. sion of the
{Phonnimn
from which
American
races.
we
it
tenax)
derives
find the
original posses-
Before the time of the
Europeans the maguey plant was the vine of the
Schouw,
p. 223, etc.
C
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. Mexicans, and
in recent
times another species of the
same genus {Agave A mericand) has acquired the name of Mexican aloe, and furnishes a well-known fibrous material. Above the limit of rye and barley, in Chili and Peru, grows another characteristic plant — the seeds of which are used as food.
— the On
quinoa
the lower Orinoco the savage races subsist on the
In Africa the date-palm
Mauritia palm.
Arab.
the
heritance of
In Abyssinia the coffee
appears as the characteristic plant. it
supreme national
With
the
plant.
Amongst
is
the
the Indo-Cauca-
Western Asia and Europe the
sian races of
Hindoo
In China the tea-shrub
rice or cotton.
is
the in-
is
characteristic plants are wheat, barley, rye,
original
and
oats.
Southern Europe has the olive, and, together with
The Laplanders have no we except the reindeer moss.
Central Europe, the vine. characteristic plant,
Yet
all this is
tion
;
as the
if
being changed with increasing
civilisa-
European races obtained the almond,
peach, and apricot from Asia Minor, the orange from
China, rice from India, and the maize and potato
from America, so the colonies of the same established in
all
climates
races,
and scattered over the
them their characteristic plants, around them those of all other races. In
world, carried with or collected this
manner maize,
and even
cotton, the vine, coffee, the orange,
tea, travelling
from their original centres,
threaten every climate for which they are suitable,
INTRODUCTION. and
characteristic
plants
19
become a legend of the
past. It is scarcely lialf a
was
first
century ago since the tea-plant
introduced for cultivation on the slopes of
the Himalayas in India, and
most important industry
unknown, are a
More
recently,
;
now
it
has become a
and tea-gardens, formerly
distinctive feature in the landscape.
and with similar
success, the fever
bark, or cinchona plant, has been brought from South
America and
naturalised on the Neilgherry Hills in
Southern India, whence
it is
spreading to other parts
To a more limited extent the hop has been introduced from England into the north-west of India, where barley was already grown, of the Peninsula.
and now breweries of "bitter beer" are established for
the benefit of Europeans
regions of our Indian Empire. plants thus widely distributed,
such as we term
"
weeds
"
the most remote Not only are useful but with them others, in
The
are associated.
small
seeds of these plants, unintentionally mixed with the seeds of food-plants,
accompany them
destination; thus the red Indian of
to their
new
North America
is
said to have recognised the plantain, travelling west-
ward with the white man's of the it
"
more
corn,
white man's foot." difficult
and gave
it
Every century
the will
name make
of determination what are the really
indigenous plants in countries where European races
have established themselves. c 2
FREAKS
20
Wc may may One
PLANT
OF'
anticipate one or
possibly be urged
two objections which
against this
volume^
little
be that we have made very free
may many researches
of these
use of the
LIFE.
of Dr. Charles Darwin,
phenomena of plant life, without adding number or in illustration. To this we in them, to plead guilty, with the excuse that by so doing wc in certain
should contribute something towards the diffusion of
we
a knowledge, and, as
hope, of a more general ap-
made
preciation of the important additions he has
our knowledge of vegetable
who have been
Some
life.
content to associate his
with a theory which they
may
to
there are
name only
not comprehend, but
With that theory we are fail to condemn. now concerned but there is another aspect in which we desire that this accurate and indefatigable observer should be known and remembered, outside
do not not
;
an exclusively
scientific
circle
;
and that
is,
as
a
collector of facts, the results of patient observations, illustrative of the life history of plants
The
and animals.
volumes which he has written are unequalled as
a cyclopa;dia of facts
;
and
his bitterest foe
has never
accused him of distorting, or misrepresenting the benefit of any theory whatever. historian, therefore, A\e
and,
if
wc have added
he has investigated,
As
commend him so
it is
little
facts, for
a biological
to our readers,
to the subjects
which
because he has done this so
completely that further amplification was unnecessary.
INTRODUCTION, The second
we may
objection which
anticipate
is
the miscellaneous character of the subjects which we
have brought together within the two ends of book.
If the object with
be kept
view,
in
an objection
is
which
we would
also
untenable.
We
confess
those
to interest
to a
who
one
We
that
such
profess to be
somewhat unpopular
writing a popular volume, on a subject.
think
fain
this
was undertaken
this
design of endeavouring
are
not botanists, and
do
not pretend to any but a most superficial knowledge of plant
life.
For such we have collected together,
under the headings of a certain number of chapters, of what we consider curious and inphenomena and facts, in the hope that by such means we might stimulate in them an interest
a quantity teresting
in
trees,
plants,
and
we succeed
flowers,
which they never
felt
same time, in enlarging their views of the power and beneficence of the great Author of all these marvels, our work will have been accomplished. before.
If
Then
in
doing
this,
and, at the
wherefore, wherefore were they made,
All dyed with rainbow light,
All fashioned with supremest grace,
Upspringing day and night Springing
And on
And
in valleys
green and low,
the mountains high.
in the silent wilderness
Where no man
passes by
.''
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. Our outward life requires them notThen wherefore had they birth ?
To minister delight to man, To beautify the earth ;
To
comfort
man — to
whisper hope,
Whene'er his faith is dim For Who so careth for the flowers Will much more care for him. ;
THE SUNDEWS.
CHAPTER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS It
very
is
many years
since
23
II.
— THE
SUNDEWS.
we wandered about
low swampy parts of Hampstead Heath, the httle sundew.
from
its
had
It
comparative
in
in
those days an interest since
rarity,
it
it
with dead insects.
little
must be hunted
it
moss, in the
swampy
button,
but
mysterious association
its
This
spicuous that
The
;
interest, in the beautiful sparkling
glands of the leaves, and
grow.
such
inhabits
locahties as are not to be found in every district
had also other
the
search of
places in
plant
is
so incon-
amongst the bog which it delights to
for,
leaves are nearly as round as a shirt
little
and seldom so much as half an inch
in
diameter, attached at the lower edge to long slender stalks.
^
These
stalks radiate
from a central point,
a short root-stock, and the leaves ground, like a
little rosette.
lie
flat
In the centre
on the
rises
the
flowering stem, sometimes from four to six inches high, with a few minute white flowers towards the top (fig.
i).
The
leaves
^
and the ends of the
Droscra rotundifolm.
leaf-stalks
FREAKS OF PLAXT
24
are
LIFE.
with
covered with curious hairs or tentacles,
clubbed ends, which sparkle in the sun, as bore on their extremity a minute dew-drop. leaves,
and
their curious
if
they
These
appendages, arc the objects
Fig. I.— Round-leaved Sundew, Droscra rotnndifolia.
to
which our attention must be confined,
comprehend why the "
carnivorous plant."
little
if
we would
sundew has been called a
THE SUXDEWS. The
leaves, of
which the plant seldom bears more
than half a dozen, and often
less,
upper surface with glandular
hairs, to
"
are covered on the
Of
tentacles " has been applied.
which the name
these,
from 130 to
250 have been counted on single leaves. Those in the centre are shortest and erect, becoming longer
Each
and more oblique towards the margin.
tentacle
has a hair-like stem, and bears an expanded oblong
This
gland at the apex.
rounded by a viscid
which
imparts
the
is
sur-
secretion,
glistening
dewy appearance that originated the name. If we remove one of these glands, and cut it down the centre, we shall see that it has an external layer of manywhich are small and
sided
cells,
filled
with purple granular con-
tents
(fig.
2).
Beneath
this
is
another layer of different-shaped cells,
wnth similar contents.
In Fig.
the centre
gated
is
a group of elon-
cylindrical
cells,
2.
— Section of gland
of Droscra rotiiiidifoLia
each
magnified.
with a spiral fibre winding round within taining a spiral
limpid
vessel
runs
fluid.
From
these
down through
stalk or pedicel of the gland.
it,
and con-
spiral
cells
a
the centre of the
Other and more minute
rudimentary hairs are found mixed with the tentacles,
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. or covering those parts from which the tentacles are absent.
When any causes a is
small object
movement
in
is
placed on the glands,
the tentacles.
it
The impulse
transmitted from those which are touched to others
which surround them, and, one by one, the tentacles
bend over towards the centre of the enclose the irritating object. object
it
more speedily and
is
than a dead one.
.
leaf, in
If the latter
The time
is
order to a living
effectively clasped
required to cause
all
the tentacles to close over an object depends upon circumstances.
The
more rapid over than a tough-coated one, and
inflection
a thin-skinned insect
is
the period varies from one to four or five hours for all
the tentacles to be closed
down upon the by a hair or
If the glands are only touched
and nothing margin
will
is
left
upon them, the
curve inwards.
captive.
thread,
tentacles at the
This movement
may be
caused by touching a gland three or four times, and in ten
seconds from being touched the movement
has been seen to commence.' Withering states that in 1780 Mr, Whateley inspected leaves (D. rohindifolia) and observed small insects imprisoned therein. On Mr. W. pressing with a pin other leaves, yet in their expanded state, he observed a remarkable sudden and elastic spring of the leaves so as to become inverted upwards, and, as it were, encircling the pin, 1
some of these
which evidently showed the method by which the its embarrassed position.
into
fly
came
THE SUNDEWS. When an insect is caug-ht by this process, a much more remarkable phenomenon takes place, which was thoroughly examined by Mr. Darwin and declared in the
such as a
following terms :—
bit of
meat or an
"
When
insect,
is
an object,
placed on the
disc of a leaf, as soon as the surrounding tentacles
become considerably inflected, their glands pour I ascerforth an increased amount of secretion. tained this by selecting leaves with equal-sized drops on the two sides, and by placing bits of meat on one and as soon as the tentacles on side of the disc this side became much inflected, but before the ;
glands touched the meat, the drops of secretion be-
came
larger.
This was repeatedly observed, but a
record was kept of only thirteen cases, in nine of
which increased secretion was plainly observed
;
the
four failures being due either to the leaves being rather torpid, or the
much
inflection."
^
l?its
of
This
is
meat too small an important
to cause
fact, as
it
shows conclusively some relationship between the action of inflection in the hairs and the amount of viscid secretion exuded.
There is, however, another important fact which must be taken into account in connexion with that just recorded.
It
is,
that not only
increased in quantity, but
*
it
is
the secretion
also undergoes a
Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants,"
p. 14.
change
FREAKS OF PLAXT
28
in
nature,
its
becoming more
LIFE.
acid.
This acidulation
takes place before the glands have touched the object
on the
leaf,
and so long as the tentacles remain bent
downwards does the
secretion
and continues also
acid properties.
shown
its
continue to exude, It
might be
here, as the result of experiment, that frag-
ments of meat, and other substances, placed on the leaves
and submitted
remained clean and fragments of equal
damp
from putrefaction, whilst other
size,
placed at the same time on
moss, became mouldy, or disintegrated, and
swarming with i^reservative It
to the action of this secretion,
free
This fact indicates some
infusoria.
power
in
the acidulated secretion.
has been demonstrated that most insects are
hilled within a quarter of ihcir being caught.
The
an hour from the time of respiration of insects
is
ac-
complished by means of breathing pores, or tracheae,
on the
surface of their bodies.
The
viscid secretion
from the glands tends to close and choke up these
by
tracheae, so that the insect
is
Every additional gland,
closes over the captured
as
it
killed
insect, contributes of its viscid secretion,
bathes and involves the impossible.
The
little insect,
suffocation.
which soon
so that respira-
struggles of an insect
when
tion
is
first
caught only serve to touch and stimulate other
tentacles,
and increase the number of those which
pour forth it, and and thus hasten its death.
close over
their
viscid secretion,
THE SUNDEWS. \Vc
may
29
well assume, as experiments justify the
assumption, that the acidulated secretion, which
is
discharg-ed over the insect from the inflected glands,
the digestion
aids in food.
It
is
mena, the
abundantly certain that
this
animat
these pheno-
all
sensibility, or irritability of the tentacles
when touched, on the
by the plant of
leaf,
their
power of closing over the object
the increase of
its
viscid
secretion,
and
the acquisition of acid properties, are not performed
without a purpose, and that purpose appears to be the capture of animal food,
absorption
b}^
its
digestion,
and ultimate
the plant.
There can be no doubt that the glands of the leaf
do
really possess the
power of absorption, which ma}'
be tested by placing upon them small quantities of such substances as carbonate of ammonia, the absorp-
which causes a change of colour consequent upon the aggregation of their contents. It may be assumed also from the fact that the tentacles remain closed longer over an object which contains soluble
tion of
nitrogenous matter than over one which does not.
The
sundew has very delicate roots, which are scarcehmore than suckers for obtaining moisture which the plant requires in great abundance. As Mr. Darwin observes, " a plant of
leaves
curled
sundew with the edges of
inwards, so
as to
its
form a temporary
stomach, with the glands of the closely inflected tentacles pouring forth their
acid
secretion,
which
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
dissolves animal matter afterwards to be absorbed,
may
be said to feed like an animal.
from an animal,
But, differently
drinks by means of
and must drink largely so as to retain many drops of viscid fluid round the glands, sometimes as many as it
its
roots
;
it
260, exposed
day
Avhole sun."
during the
to
glaring
a
^
Thus
v/c
have taken a
cursory glance at the
little
sundew, and some of the
phenomena which prehend
still
better the
more explicit some of the i^/^.
3.— Leaf with
Drosera
tentacles of features
rotiindifolia,
en-
'^
in
^vhich
we
turn.
We
details
shall
of
individual history, to
its
have to
re-
have described
the leaves, which are in fact the traps by
which living insects are caught, and, not only the stomach also in which the animal food
To
ex-
order to com-
in
hibits,
it
is
means of this,
but
digested.
prove that these are not fanciful notions, but have
plenty of evidence in support, the important features will
have to be examined
A
leaf
'
studded
Avith
in detail.
sparkling glandular hairs
Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants,"
p. iS.
THE SUNDEWS.
31
very extraordinary, but when
wc discover that these hairs, or tentacles, can be moved in a particular direction in response to some exciting cause, we have to deal with a phenomenon by no means common in plant life, and we naturally become is
not
in
itself
When any
curious to discover the cause. living or dead,
tentacles
it
comes
in contact
commences
centre of the leaf
is
bend over towards the
to
The power
(fig. 3).
to irritation, moreover,
of responding
not confined to the single
tentacle which has been touched, for
capacity of cpmmunicating tentacles,
with
and they also bend
it
possesses the
the
surrounding
over, as if in
laid
human
sympathy
The minute
with and to assist their companion.
fragment of a
object,
with one of these
hair y^o-th of an inch in length,
upon a gland, has been shown to be sufficient to bend over. Minute particles of
excite a tentacle to glass, chalk,
and other inorganic substances, placed on
the glands of the outer tentacles, will cause them to bend.
So
also will small fragments of meat,
minute drops of stimulating is
touched three or four times
not
When
fluids.
when only touched once
it
will also bend,
for
is
sufficient
After remaining bent
some time the excited
tentacles
return to their original erect position.
much more speedy when an
but
or twice, although the
sustained pressure of a gnat's foot
produce the movement.
and
a tentacle
inorganic
to
down
again slowly
This return
is
body has been
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
32
when
the cause of the inflection, than
a small insect,
or a fragment of meat, has been the exciting cause.
These
facts
have been proved by numerous experi-
ments, which place them
beyond question.
that the tentacles are sensitive
we may
(if
First,
use that
expression) to the sustained pressure of one millionth
That they
part of a grain.
and bend towards the centre of the leaf
pressure,
That
respond to such
will
this irritation
also
will
neighbouring tentacles, which
And
direction.
be communicated to
bend
will
that after this operation
the
in is
same
performed
the inflected tentacles will return to their former position.
we
If
suppose, then, that a minute insect
has fallen or alighted upon one, or more, of the outer tentacles,
will
it
course
the
in
moving towards the
of ten seconds be
centre, whither
it
will ultimately
be carried, whilst the surrounding tentacles follow in the bending movement, until
over the captive insect. assured
the
that
first
But,
it
may
inward
take
flight
against
It
by the
might do so
if
are closed
be asked, are
movement
tentacles will not alarm the insect .''
all
this
will also
of
and cause
we the
it
to
were not provided
viscid secretion with
which the glands
arc covered, and which increases in quantity with the
inward movement of the tentacles. so tenacious that if
it
may
once a small insect alights upon
vain to get
free.
It
is,
This secretion
be drawn out
in fact,
in strings,
it, it
is
and
struggles in
a kind of birdlime,
THE SUNDEWS.
33
prepared naturally, and exposed systematically, for the capture of
little
of each tentacle
which
this sticky substance,
on the
surface.
sparkle
in
the
The club-shaped summit
flies.
a manufactory and storehouse for
is
is
exuded and exposed
Although these drops
and
glisten
have another and more
sun, they
important function to perform than only to justify
cognomen of the plant. Not only does the response of the
the
irritation
remind us of
sensibility
tentacles to
in
animal
the
kingdom, but the apparent power of discrimination which the tentacles possess seems surprising. an undoubted
fact
that
distinguishing
not
only
It is
power does exist of
the
between
and
inorganic
organic substances, as between a piece of glass and
a piece of boiled
but also between
(i%%,
skinned beetle and
a
soft
give abundant evidence of
other of his works,
authentic facts.
were
tried
is
greatly
this,
and
his
book, like
a complete cyclopaedia of
on thirty or forty
leaves,
inflected.
drops of cold
Whereas
hard-
For instance, drops of pure water leaves, but no effect Drops of milk were placed
whatever was produced.
on sixteen
a
and even between
Mr. Darwin's experiments
different kinds of fluids.
all
fly,
tea,
and the tentacles of
Ten
leaves
were
all
became
tried
with
but the tentacles did not respond.
eight were tested with dissolved isinglass,
as thick as milk,
and
all
of
D
them recognised
it
by
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
34
Nor was
inflecting the tentacles. solids less remarkable.
on the
discs of several leaves,
paper, bits of as
Minute
"
the
flies,
embraced
in
the treatment of
were placed
flies
and on others
balls of
of about the same size
moss and
quill,
and
latter
the
•
(the
were well
flies)
a few hours, whereas, after twenty-five
hours, only a very few tentacles were inflected over
The
the other objects.
and
bits of paper, m.oss
were then removed from these leaves, and
quill
bits of
raw
meat placed on them, and now
all
soon energetically
Yet another mode of
inflected."
^
recognition was manifested.
the tentacles were
Over and over
the work from whence the above
demonstrated that the tentacles remained longer period
inflected over
substances than
again, in
quoted,
is
for a
it
is
much
what we should term over
such
indigestible
things as bits of glass and paper.
The
inference to
digestible
be drawn from
this fact is that the plant recognised
the latter as indigestible, and hence that the tentacles let
go
their
position
hold and returned
in
the act of digestion.
remarked here that as the
It
tentacles, whilst
may be
becoming
exude a larger drop of secretion than when
erect, so in recovering drier,
previous
their
of expectancy, whilst in the former they
remained closed
inflected,
to
with
'
little
from inflection they become
or none of the secretion exuded,
Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants,"
p. 22.
THE SUNDEWS. until
they
after
By
position.
the
have
35
resumed
again
tion of the prey has to be provided for
any adhering
legs or
erect
their
and diges-
action the capture
first
;
by the
last
wings of dead insects are got
rid of.
We
have demonstrated the
fly-catching plant in its
that relates to the securing of
prey, and, within certain limits, to
The next
selection.
with its
all
it
.'*
"
and
question
"
is,
this naturally leads
and
powers of digestion
phenomena exhibited by the conclude that the motive the
fact,
is
Darwin's own language,
"
when
some
irritated transmit
he do
will
us to investigate
absorption.
the
If
plant are analogous to
we may
be
fairly
We
the same.
may
which
power of
its
What
those of animals during digestion,
stated
of our
perfectibility
repeated
have
in
Mr.
that the glands of the disc influence to the glands
of the exterior tentacles, causing them to secrete
more if
copiously,
and the secretion to become
acid, as
they had been directly excited by an object placed
on them.
The
gastric juice of animals contains, as
is
well known, an acid and a ferment, both of which are
indispensable for digestion, and Drosera.
When
secretion
of
animal
mechanically irritated
is
and when
so
it
is
with the
the stomach of it
an
secretes an acid,
particles of glass or other such
objects
were placed on the glands of Drosera, the secretion
and that of the surrounding and untouched glands
D
2
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
r('j-xw.
its
When it
its
electro-
contracts,
the manifestation of electromotive force diminishes in proportion to the degree of contraction.
to be borne in
mind
that, although,
when
But
it is
the muscle
or the leaf contracts, electromotive force disappears
and work
is
that there
is
done, there
is
no reason
any conversion of the one
for
supposing
effect into the
other, or that the source of the force exercised
organ
by the
in contracting is electrical."
Dr. Burdon Sanderson then proceeded by a series
of experiments to demonstrate the correspondence
between the
electrical
phenomena which accompany
muscular contraction and those which are associated with the closing of the Dionoea
^
Icaf.^
Lecture by Dr. Burdon Sanderson at Royal Institution, 5th, 1874 ; " Gardener's Chronicle," June 27th, 1874.
June
VENUS' S FLY-TRAP. With
this brief
67
and rapid summary of the main
features relating to the carnivorous propensities of
the Vcnus's Fly-trap,
we may
other plants belonging to the
the Sundews and
casually refer to a few
same natural order
Dionoea, which
as
similar
possess
propensities, but to a less interesting degree, or
do
not differ greatly from the two preceding types.
A is
little
aquatic plant, called Aldrovanda vesiculosa
found in Europe, Australia, and India.
Although
inhabiting countries so remote from each other, plant seems to be of one species in roots,
and
floats like
green stars
all.
It
has no
The
in the water.
leaves are arranged in whorls in a stellate
this
manner
round the stem. Each leaf has two semicircular lobes,
which are seated on broad
foot-stalks.
The
lobes
are generally found closed at the ordinary temperature in Europe, but they do separate, under favourable
conditions,
to
about
the
same proportionate
extent as a living mussel opens the valves of
The
history
and mystery of
are very imperfectly known.
Stein observed that water
sometimes caught by
insects v/ere
its shell.
this little water-plant
it.
Professor
Cohn
has found crustaceans and larva; within the leaves.^ Plants placed in water containing entomostraca were
examined next morning, and found viduals of these minute crustaceans
1
Cohn, "Beitrage,"'
F 2
iii.,
to enclose indistill
1875, P- 7^-
alive.
In
FREAKS OF PLAXT LIFE.
68
cne of the closed leaves of the Australian variety from Queensland a rather large beetle was found, with
all
The
the softer parts of the
living creatures.
are
body
dissolved.
leaves evidently are well adapted for catching
probably
There are long
which
sensitive hairs
There are glands
sensitive.
may
from analogy,
limpid
a
crete
which,.
Altogether,
although
se-
fluid.
'^
however,,
and
kinship
analogy might point to this
another
as
of the
carnii'orous plants of the
Sundew
family, a sup-
position
which
by
ported
a
is
sup-
sort
of
circumstantial evidence, still,
so
known, that
it
to suspend the Fig.
5.
'Lt'aJi
o{ Aldrovanda,
enlarged.
— COHX.
definitely
little is
is
better
judgment
than reach at too hast>' a conclusion.
The Portuguese Fly-catcher is we may distinguish that rare little
the
name by which
plant Drosophyllum
Lnsitanicum, which hitherto has only been found Portugal and Morocco.
'
It is plentiful in
Uarwin,
p. 330.
in
the neigh-
1
7£ND\S'S
FL
\
'
TRAP.
69
bourhood of Oporto, where the villagers call it the fly-catcher," and hang it in their cottages for that *'
The
purpose.
inches
several
leaves are length,
in
slender filaments, of
like
with the
upper
surface
concave and channelled
down
under surface convex.
Both surfaces are covered
the middle, and the
with tentacles of a pink or purplish colour, supported
on peduncles of variable lengths, with a cap-like
These tentacles secrete large drops
convex head.
of a viscid secretion
(fig. 6).
Besides these tentacles are a
number of very minute glands, scarcely
naked
but with tion,
the
eye, colourless, but similar
structure
in
sessile
visible to
the
to
tentacles
this difference in func-
that they do
not secrete
spontaneously, but must be excited
and
to
do
Both glands
so.
tentacles
nitrogenous matter. insect
alights
on
this fly-catcher, the
When a
leaf
;
and as
it
6.
— Glands
an
liciii,
matrnified.
of
drops of secretion, with which the
and
readily,
adhere to
moves other drops accumulate,
length, bathed with the viscid secretion,
powerless, sinks
on
leaf oi Drosflphyl-
tentacles are studded, at once, it
Fig.
speedily absorb
down and
dies,
it
until, at
becomes
on the small
glands with which the leaves are
covered.
sessile
The
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
70
no power of motion, and are not con-
tentacles have
The
sequently sensitive to the touch. operation
fly-catching
That shown by
performed by the secretion alone.
is
the tentacles are capable of absorption
is
the aggregation of the protoplasm after contact with
When
nitrogenous substances.
the insect
ex-
falls
hausted and dead, smothered with the viscid secretion of the tentacles, upon the small sessile glands, the contact stimulates the latter to secretion, and their action that the prey lated.'
The
process
differs therefore
the insect
insects are captured ;
but after
caught, and deposited upon the small
is
is
by
dissolved and assimi-
is
by which the
from that of the Sundews
glands, the
sessile
digestion,
it is
process
evidently the
of
same
disintegration, in
all
and
essential par-
ticulars.
An
allied plant, at the
Cape of Good Hope {Rori-
dula dentatd) probably acts
no
living specimens
in
a similar manner, but
have been examined. The leaves
are studded with glands, which secrete viscid matter, to which insects and other bodies adhere.
The same
ma}' be said of an Australian plant,
belonging to another genus {Byblis giganted).
named
can only
be
concerning
whom
The Sundew '
provisionally,
further information
as is
These
individuals desired.
family {DroseracccB) includes the six
Darwin, " Insectivorous
Plants,'' p. 341.
J'EJVi/S'S
FL V- TRA P.
7
genera to which we ha\-c drawn attention, and of those the true
Sundews {Droscra) and Venus's Fly-trap
most important. Of the true Sundews there are no less than one hundred species^ " which range in the Old World from the Arctic {Dionosa) are the
regions to
Southern India, to the Cape of
Hope, Madagascar, and Australia; and
World from Canada
in
the
Good
New
There
to Terra del Fuego."
is
every reason to suppose that the same habits, and carnivorous propensities, are in all this
common
wide range, these humble
to
all,
little
and
that,
bog plants
are ever exposing their glittering tentacles to the sun,
and luring myriads of
insects to their destruction.
Bright and glorious
Written
all
is
that revelation,
over this great world of ours;
Making evident our own In these stars of earth
creation,
— these
golden flowers.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
72
CHAPTER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS
The the
IV.
— SIDE-SADDLE
FLOWERS.
Pitcher-plants, properly so called, are natives of
Old World,
World
representatives
their
the
in
New
are called Side-saddle flowers, or Sarracenias.
In the true Pitcher-plants the curious pitchers are
suspended at the ends of the
leaves, of
which they
are prolongations, but in the Sarracenias the entire
folded and modified into a kind of pitcher.
leaf
is
The
eight
North American species are found
in
the
eastern States, in bogs, and in places covered with
shallow water.
Their leaves, which give them
a
character entirely their own, are pitcher-shaped, or rather they are trumpet-shaped, standing erect, collected in tufts,
ground.
and springing immediately from the
They send up
at the flowering season
one
or more slender stems, each of which bears a single flower,
which
character,
is
with
itself
a
of a peculiar appearance and
fancied
resemblance to a side-
saddle,
and hence the popular name.
shown
that there arc at least two dificrent kinds, or
types, of pitcher in this group of plants.
the
mouth
is
open and the
lid
It
has been
In one kind
stands erect, so that the
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS.
73
more or less abundance. In the other kind the mouth of the tube is closed with a lid, and into these the rain can hardly, if ever, tube receives the rain-water
in
find ingress.^
As
long ago as the year 1815
the
fly-catching
propensity of these plants was observed and com-
mented upon,
in
a communication to the President of
the Linnaean Society.
made have
Many
of the assertions then
since been verified
they excited but
little
receive implicit credence.
although at the time
;
notice,
and perhaps did not
"If,"
says the writer, "in
when
the months of May, June, or July,
the leaves of
these plants perform their extraordinary functions in
the greatest perfection,^ some of them should
removed will
to a house
and fixed
soon be perceived that
in
be
an erect position,
flies
are
attracted
it
by
them. These insects immediately approach the fauces of the leaves, and leaning over their edges appear to
with eagerness something from
sip
surface.
allured, as
it
*
^
The
fly
few seconds,
slips
and
taste,
which has thus changed
situation will be seen to stand unsteadily,
for a
internal
would seem by the pleasures of
they enter the tubes. its
their
In this position they linger, but, at length
falls to
it
totters
the bottom of the
" Gardener's Chronicle," August 29th, 1874, p, 260. These observations relate chiefly to one species, Sarracenici
variolaris.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
74
where
tube,
is
it
either drowned, or attempts in vain
The
to ascend against the points of the hairs.
seldom takes wing
much
flies
rapidly that a tube it
becomes
and escapes. In a house
in its fall
infested with
is
fly
this
entrapment goes on so within a few hours, and
filled
necessary to add
water, the
natural
quantity being insufficient to drown the imprisoned
The
insects.
leaves of other species might well be
employed as
indeed,
fly-catchers,
I
am
credibly
informed that they are in some neighbourhoods.
The
leaves of Sarracenia flava, although they are very
capacious, and often
grow
to a height of three feet
many insects The cause which attracts
or more, are never found to contain so as those of other species. flies
is
evidently a sweet viscid substance resembling
honey, secreted by, or exuding from, the internal surface of the tube.
mences,
it
From
the margin, where
an inch. The falling of the insect as soon as the tube
it
com-
does not extend lower than one fourth of
is
it
enters
wholly attributable to the downward or
inverted position of the hairs of the internal surface of
the leaf
At
hairs are
plainly
the bottom of a tube, split open, the
as the eye ranges
shorter
downwards upward they gradually become
discernible pointing
and attenuated,
surface, covered
by the
ceptible to the
naked
touch.
It
is
till
bait,
at,
or just below the
they arc no longer per-
eye, nor to the
here that the
;
fly
most delicate
cannot take a hold
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS. strong to support
sufficient!)-
75
but
itself,
The
falls.
up against the points of have often tested in the most satisfactory
inability of insects to crawl
the hairs
I
manner."^
The annexed
figure represents the pitchers of the
species to which these observations refer also that
is
on which
many
It
(fig. 7).
subsequent and confirma-
tory experiments were made.
The
tissues of the internal, or lining, surfaces of the
Sarracenia are not identical in
pitchers
in
species.
In some, and probably most, there are four
all
the
kinds of surfaces, proceeding from the mouth downw^ards to the
bottom of the
tube.
First,
there
an attractive surface, often brightly coloured, occupies the inner face of the
lid,
with the mouth of the pitcher, honey-secreting glands.
is
and
this, in
A\'hich
common
covered with minute
Then, secondly, there
conducting surface of glassy
is
cells,
is
a
which are elon-
gated into conical processes overlapping each other, like the tiles of a house, so as to afford
for
no foothold
an insect attempting to crawl up again.
This
is
by a large granular surface, which is smooth and polished so as to afford no foothold.
succeeded
And,
finally,
there
is
a detentive
occupies the lower part of the pitcher.
^
Dr. James
Society," vol.
xii.
McBride
in
" Transactions
surface,
which
It is
studded
of the
Linntean
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE
76
which converge towards the
with deflexed rigid
hairs,
axis of the cavity
so that an insect,
them,
is
;
effectually detained,
and
its
if
once amongst
struggles have
no
^mX^-^'i
Fz]^.
7.— Pitchers
of Sarraccnia variolaris, reduced.
Other result than to wedge in the pitcher. '
it
lower and more firmly
^
"Gardener's Chronicle," September
5,
1874, p. 293.
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS.
A similar structure thus described
is
Fig.
8.
in
Sarraccnia purpurea
by Mr. W. H.
Gilburt,i
7;^
(fig.
in
8)
his
— Pitcher oi Safracenia purpurea, reduced, with section.
memoir on " The Histology of Pitcher-Plants." He " The interior surface of this pitcher is divided
says
'
:
—
W. H.
Gilburt in " Journal of the Ouekett Microscopical
Club," November, 1880, vol.
There
vi.,
p.
154.
a characteristic figure of
this Sarracenia in old Gerarde's "Herbal" (1597), where it is called "hollow-leaved sea-lavender," and stated to be copied from Clusius, " for the is
strangenesse thereof, but hope that some or other that travelL
by
may
and know it and bring it home with them, that so a perfecter knowledge thereof." P. 412.
into forraine parts
finde this elegant plant,
this small expression,
we may come
to
—
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. On
into four zones.
the
first
one, or that nearest the
mouth of the pitcher, are numerous stomata, and also number of strongly developed rigid hairs, which
a large
The second zone
point downward.
by the
fact that
each
cell
characterised
is
of the surface
is
prolonged
downward
into a short
mammillary its
process,
wall being striated
We
longitudinally.
next come to a sion which
is
divi-
smooth,
hairs are entirely absent,
and the
sinuous
The by and long
cells are
outline.
in
fourth division far is
the
crowded with
hairs,
the points
of which are Fi'^. 9.
SmTacciiia ptn'picrea,
a Section of gland. b Hair from upper zone. c Hair from lower zone.
rected
is
longest,
all
towards
di-
the
base, but they are not
so stout or strong as
Gilbitrt.
those found near the
mouth of the hairs of all
the (fig.
the
pitcher."
upper
In
zone
explanation
are
shown
the
rigid
to agree
in
respects with an ordinary trichome, being simply
outgrowth
of
a
single
cell.
These
hairs
9) on their external surface show a few dceply-
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS. cut longitudinal striations, in
fact,
79
marked are
so well
they that the hair might almost be described as
fluted.
Yet are they in error who have described them as made up of a bundle of rod-like cells. Again, he says, " All these modifications of surface are, without doubt, of
value to the plant, and in this direction, that while
they will allow an insect to enter, and pass down the tube,
it is
almost impossible for
it
many
Thus
to return.
they become veritable insect-traps.
The
pitchers of
species contain fluid, but nothing corresponding
to a digestive fluid has been detected in them."
As
to the fluids,
misinterpretation. in
mind
tion
we must
To
this
carefully guard against
end
it
must be borne
that the honey-like, or saccharine, exuda-
from the
lip
of the tube,
and the
fluid,
con-
tained in greater or less quantity at the bottom of
the tube, are two quite different and stances.
The
distinct sub-
latter will receive attention hereafter,
but our present subject
is
as a bait or lure at the
the secretion which
mouth of the
is
found
tube.
This,
combined with the bright colouring, may be fairly assumed to have been provided for some special purpose. attracts
Dr. flies,"
McBride calls it the "cause which and Dr. Millichamp, of South Carolina,
set himself to investigate this,
and some other
dis-
puted points, upon living plants.
Having discovered some advanced plants of Sarracenia, he had no difficulty in detecting, in
almost every
leaf,
the sugary
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
So
or honey-like exudation,
secretion
noticed
by Dr.
McBride, and other observers, as being found at the
mouth
" I
of the tube.
found
he writes,
it,"
in the place described, save that
wards more than a quarter of an an
inch, or
extended down-
inch, generally hali
even three quarters of an inch.
I
also
more sparingly under the arched lid, or upper leaf, in and among the thick and coarse found there, and which, I believe, are thicker and
found lip
it
" precisely
it
of the
hairs
coarser than those in the lowermost portion of the tube.
Dr.
McBride,
however,
failed
to
trace
the
continuance of the sugary exudation, which
I
quently found glistening, and somewhat
along
viscid,
fre-
the whole red or purple -coloured border, or edging of
the broad wing, extending from the cleft in the lower lip,
even
to the
There
gro?md.
is,
therefore, a painted
or honey-baited pathway, leading directly from the petiole (or the it
ground
extends on each
the
lips,
itself)
up
to the mouth,
side, as far as the
from which
where
commissures of
runs within, and downwards,
it
for at least half an inch." "
One can now
readily understand
so frequently be found
among
insects at the base of the tube.
saccharine juices
is
well
ants should
Their fondness for
known, and, while reconnoi-
tring at the base of the leaf,
and bent on plunder, they
are doubtless soon attracted
honeyed path lying
why
the earliest macerated
by the sweets of the
right before them, along
which
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS. ihey
may
eat as
8i
they march, until the mouth
is
reached, where certain destruction awaits them."^
In order to determine the character of the sac-
charine exudation, and whether intoxicating
properties.
Millichamp
Dr.
any
possessed
it
collected
a large number of mature, and most sugary, leaves,
which he placed
home, and
sat
watching the
vessels of water
in
down
them
before Flies
result.
on reaching
for
two
hours
were soon attracted to
the leaves, but by no means greedily, and
many were
entrapped, the buzzing of unfortunate prisoners being incessant.
with the
Finding that he could not see the process
lids in their
normal
position,
he turned back-
wards the greater part of the overhanging
lid,
and
let
daylight into the prison, so that the whole region of the
sugar countries could be seen, and examined,
while the
flies
were busy at their food.
"After turning back the
he says, "the
flies
lids
of most of the leaves,"
would enter as
before, a
few alighting
on the honeyed border of the wing, and walking upward sipping as they went to the mouth, and
—
—
entering at the cleft of the lower alight on the top of the lid roof, feeding there
;
but most,
ferred to alight just at the
^
Prof.
Asa Gray
in "
lip
G
others would
it
seemed
to me, pre-
commissure of the
New York Tribune
Chronicle," June 27, 1S74.
;
and then walk under the
lips.
;" also " Gardener's
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
82-
and
enter the tube immediately there, feed-
either
ing downward upon the honey pastures, or would linger at the trunk, sipping along the whole edge of
the lower
and eventually enter near the
lip
cleft.
After entering (which they generally do with great caution and
they begin again to
circumspection)
but their foothold, for some reason or other,
feed,
seems unsecure, and they occasionally
slip,
as
it
ap-
pears to me, upon this exquisitely soft and velvety declining pubescence.
The
smeared over the whole disposed in separate
nectar
not exuded or
is
of this surface, but
little
drops.
I
seems
have seen them
regain their foothold after slipping, and continue to sip,
but always moving slowly and with apparent
caution, as
if
aware that they are treading on dan-
gerous ground.
After sipping their
quently remain motionless, as
if
fill
they
fre-
satiated with delight,
and, in the usual self-congratulatory
manner of
proceed to rub their legs together, but in
flies,
reality, I
suppose, to cleanse them.
It
themselves to
themselves against the
flight, strike
is
then they betake
opposite sides of the prison-house, either upward or
downward, generally the former. Obtaining no perch or foothold, they rebound off from this velvety microscopic c//^^'>.
end
in
26.— Traveller's Joy {Clematis
three hours and a quarter.
vitalba).
In another case
TWINERS AND CLIMBERS. a
round a stick
petiole curled completely
These
hours.
four hours,
were
petioles
and the
sticks
left
the petiole
in
twelve
curled for twenty-
were then removed, but
they never straightened themselves. thinner than
201
itself,
took a twig
I
and with
it
lightly
rubbed several petioles four times, up and down
;
these in an hour and three-quarters
became slightly curled the curvature increased during some hours, and then began to decrease, but after twenty-five ;
hours from
the time of rubbing, a vestige of the
Some
curvature remained.
rubbed twice, that
is,
other petioles similarly
once up and once down, became
perceptibly curved in about two hours and
They became
When
a
half.
straight again in about twelve hours."
the petiole embraces a twig
it
^
swells per-
ceptibly for two or three days, and ultimately
becomes
twice as thick as one which has embraced nothing.
The same happens climbers.
also in
A section
the case of other leaf-
of such a swollen petiole,
when
examined under the microscope, exhibited an entire change of structure, whereby it had become more rigid and woody, simulating the structure of the stem.
It
would seem,
therefore, that this
the structure of the clasping petiole to be
serviceable
to
the plant,
strength to the curved
'
portion,
is
change
in
one likely
by giving greater and thus enabling
Darwin, " Movements of Climbing Plants,"
p. 57.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. it
to hold
more firmly
greater shocks
;
to
its
support, and withstand
addition
in
to
which the greater
thickness of the petiole would lessen
its
chance of
being forcibly unwound again from the twig
embraced.
somewhat
it
had
Several species of Tropceoltim presented similar
phenomena
in
many respects. They
climb also by means of the curvature of the petioles
Fig. 27.
of
— Swollen
the leaves.
more
The
petiole of Clematis vitalba.
petioles
are in
sensitive than those of clematis.
some
The
species slightest
rub caused them to bend in about three minutes in
one
case,
and
another species the petiole, after
in
a slight rub, became curved in
twenty minutes.
fruit
It is
capsules of the
in six, eight,
ten,
and
not unusual to see the green
common
nasturtium in gardens
bent over abruptly upon the stem, and even occa-
TWINERS AND CLIMBERS. sionally
making a complete
or
turn,
203
This
loop.
habit has been noticed also in other species.
Two
of the
commonly
cultivated climbing annuals
These are Majirandia Barclaymia
are leaf-climbers.
and LopJiospernium scandcns.
No special feature neces-
sary to be noted here was developed in the experi-
ments on these
mentioned chiefly
plants, but they are
on account of the
may be
with which they
facility
by those who may desire to repeat these observations for themselves, and trace all the phenocultivated
mena of leaf-climbing. The little fumitory
{Fiimaria
officinalis)
humble example of a climber of
Some
this
is
kind
also a 28).
(fig.
of the petioles were determined to be sensitive
to touching,
and responded thereto
The young
and a quarter.
in
about an hour
intcrnodes forming the
terminal shoots of the stem and branches
constant rotation. special
The
leaves also have their
spontaneous movement.
common weed
are
As
this plant
in
own is
a
there need be no difficulty in verifying,
and even supplementing, the observations already made.
The
not so
common
Corydalis ;
it
is is
a closely allied plant, but intermediate between
climbers and tendril-bearers, with of both
The
(fig.
some of the
leaf-
habits
29).
by means of the development of the tips of the leaves into hooks, are so few, and those are exotic, that we may dismiss them with plants which climb
FREAKS OF PLANT
204
a
LIFE.
The end
brief explanation of the process.
leaf (in tion,
Gloriosa Plantii)
which
thickened and at
is
subsequently
it
to catch
little
enough
and
hook
caught
is
by
somewhat it,
rigid
enough
officinalis).
The
inner
sensitive, and,
when
any object and fasten the
is
nearly straight;
— Common Fumitory {Fumaria
surface of the
a twig
first
bends downwards and forms a hook,
which becomes strong
Fig. 28.
of the
forms a narrow projec-
plant.
the extremity curves
inwards and permanently seizes
it.
If
a
nothing
TWINERS AND CLIMBERS.
205
caught the hook remains open and sensitive for some time, but ultimately the extremity slowly curls is
inwards and forms a
coil at
the end of the
one leaf the hook remained open
When
days.
Fig. 29.
ring
all
We
now
tendrils
'
In
thirty-three
the tip has curled into the form of a
— Climbing
sensibility
open some
for
leaf.
Corydalis [Corydalis claviculata).
is
sensibility
lost, is
but as long as
it
remains
retained.^
pass on to tendril-bearers, premising that
are
in
most cases modifications of leaves
Darwin, " Movements of Climbing Plants,"
p. 79.
FREAKS OF PLANT
2o6
LIFE.
transformed into filaments, which are used wholly
leaf so modified
and a few
may
In other words, a tendril
for climbing.
that
is
it
lateral branches,
with none of the functions
new and
of leaves, but with a
temporaneous with
the
be a
reduced to the midrib
special function con-
modification,
that
viz.,
enabling the plant to climb and maintaining
But a
that position.
may
tendril
It
what organs are so modified themselves do not seem to
botanists
in
organ.
matters not, in so far as the present inquiry
concerned,
of
also be a modifi-
some other
cation of the flower-stalk, or of
it
in
;
is
fact,
be entirely
agreed on this point.
Very few plants with tendrils possess the power of climbing up an erect stick, but most of them exhibit rotation
in
the growing points, performing
revolutions not unlike in character to those of twiners,
and
like
in
manner
different
in
movement, though similar
directions.
in its action,
purpose.
In twiners the oscillation
search of
some
This
has a different
is
evidently in
object around which to entwine; in
tendril-bearers in order to bring the tendrils in contact
with some support.
also rotate
in
internodes,
and
many
The
species
petioles,
;
move
tendrils
in in
In Cobaa scandens, a well-known climber cultivation, the tendrils are ten
length,
themselves
some the tendrils, harmony together. in
common
or eleven inches in
and revolve rapidly and vigorously.
Three
TWINERS AND CLIMBERS.
207
large circular sweeps were observed within an hour
and a
quarter, but the
growing point does not
rotate.
In Ecliinocystis lobata, a plant of the cucumber family, the tendrils, which arc from seven to nine inches in length, revolve as well as the internodes, but over
a wider surface.
The
circles
swept by the tendrils
are from fifteen to sixteen inches in diameter, whilst
those of the internodes are not more than about three
The
inches.
quickest rate of motion for the comple-
tion of a revolution
was about one hour and
three-
In a passion-flower the internodes as well
quarters.^
as the tendrils rotate, the former very rapidly, per-
forming
its
an hour.
revolution in an average period of about
In a species of trumpet-flower {Bigiionia
littoralis)
the mature tendrils rotate
much
slower than
the internodes, the former taking six hours to per-
form a revolution, and the
latter
two hours and
In the Virginia creeper neither the
three-quarters.
internodes nor the
tendrils
possess
the power of
rotation,
That
tendrils arc sensitive to a touch,
one might
expect from the purposes they are called upon to serve, but this faculty varies in different species.
one of the passion-flowers the tendrils
the curved
1
are
tips,
{JPassiflora gracilis)
thin, delicate,
and
straight,
In
where except
a single delicate touch on the concave
Darwin, " Movement of Climbing Plants,"
p. 128.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
2o8
surface of the tip caused
that in two minutes
it
to curve immediately, so
it
formed an open
The
spire.
movement was generally perceptible within half a minute
after
being touched.
A
which curls
tendril
through being touched, but does not embrace anystraightens
thing,
the
often
tendril
again,
by a second touch.
irritated
how
itself
was
same
selected,
tendril
and
but
In
order to ascertain
may
one times
be excited one
this alternately straightening
answered to the stimulus no
itself,
becomes
soon
less
than twenty-
Asa Gray has observed an
equally rapid
in fifty-four hours.
Professor
response to a touch in the tendrils of a plant of the
cucumber
family, but instances of such rapidity are
In some, the
rare.
minutes, in others
some It
is
exhibition
movement it
of
is
takes place after a few
an hour or two, but
sensibility
in all
has been observed.
noteworthy that drops of water sprinkled with
a syringe, so as to resemble appeared to have the
falling rain, in
least
stimulating
most cases a touch from another have no
influence,
tendril
no instanceeffect.
In
seemed to
although, in the bryony and the
vine other tendrils have been seen embraced.
The lata).
Darwin
of tendrils to light
sensibility
illustrated
In
by the trumpet-flower his
experiments
observes,
"
In two
on
may
also
be
{^Bignonia capreo-
these
plants,
Mr.
instances, a pair of leaves
stood so that one of the two tendrils was directed
TIVIXEKS towards the
light,
of the house
over
its
CLIMBERS.
and the other
209
to the darkest side
the latter did not move, but the oppo-
;
one bent
site
AND
itself
upwards and then
first
fellow, so that the
two became
right
one
parallel,
above the other, both pointing to the dark.
I
then
turned the plant half-round, and the tendril which
had turned recovered opposite one which
original position,
its
had
not
before
On
turned over to the dark side.
another plant,
three pairs of tendrils were produced at
by three
time
shoots,
differently directed.
only on one In two days
side,
I
this
all
placed the pot
in
a
six tendrils pointed with
all
same
the
happened
to
be
box open
and obliquely facing the
truth to the darkest
do
and
and the
moved, now
light.
unerring
corner of the box, though to
each had to bend
manner.
a different
in
Six wind-vanes could not have more truly shown the direction of the wind than did these branched tendrils the course of the stream of light
the box.
I left
twenty-four hours, and
round
;
which entered
these tendrils undisturbed for about
but they had
then
now
turned
lost their
the pot
ment, and could not any longer avoid the
The
rotation
in
the
tendrils
of
retarded and in others accelerated
^
Darwin, " Movements of Climbing
P
half-
power of move-
some by the
light."^
plants
is
action of
Plants,'' p. g8.
FREAKS OF PLANT
2IO
the light.
Those of the
to be insensible to
its
The mode by which
others,
seem
tendrils clasp is
and attach them-
variable, even in the
same
In some, they twine spirally, like a cork-
genus. ;
and some
influence.
selves to their supports
screw
pea,
LIFE.
in others
they grasp a projection in a manner
resembling the foot of a bird themselves
attach
;
in others, again, thc\'
by hooks or grapnels
and
;
in
others, the sharp
points
arc
serted
and
in
in-
cracks or
fissures,
minute holes,
though
this latter
some
in
al-
cases,
seems to be only a temporary expedient.
The most mode of
Fig. 30.
— Hooked
tendril, like foot of
from Bignonia Tijccdiana. hook magnified (
48.
wax flowers,
interesting to botanists because of its
-Zebra Orchis
{Oiiiidiiau zcbrinum).—'' Gardener's
Chronicle."
departure from the ordinary type, the pollen masses
METEORIC ELOWERS.
Our
those
a similar nature to
being of
273
of
illustration of a Ceropegia (page
192) exhibits
the vasc-likc
shape which those flowers
whilst others
are
much more
Orchids.
assume,
and scarcely
simple,
conspicuou s.
The
"
hand plant
"
stamens
Mexico
of
platanoides) has acquired
its
{Clieirostemon
designation from the
being extended like the
five fingers
of a
hand, from a large calyx, like a leather cup, true petals being absent.
The
flowers secrete a quantity
of liquid like sugar and water, tasting and smelling
and water.
like toast
Each flower continues about a
fortnight in perfection before Avas narrated of this flower,
that
it
it
begins to fade.
when
first
was so great an object of
found
It
in 1787,
curiosity with all
the inhabitants of New^ Spain, that the flowers w^ere
gathered with avidity by the Indians, even before their full expansion,
and thus the seeds were not
The tree was venerated from time immemorial by the Indians, who believed it to be
allowed to ripen.
a solitary
tree,
of which no other existed or could
exist in the world.
Nevertheless other trees were
discovered in Guatemala in iSoi.^ Side-saddle flowers {Sarraceiiia) are surmounted by a kind of hood, not unlike a parasol, with the petals
hanging
out, all
'
round the margin,
like
little
"Botanical Magazine," plate 5,135.
saddle-
FREAKS OF PLANT
274
Of
flaps.
LIFE.
a different character, but no less strange,
are the laterally flattened pink flowers of a plant
now common of
"
in gardens,
Dutchman's
Some
which
breeches
"
of the tubular flowers are
to merit the old belief that they
of the
first
bore the
{Dielytra
name
spectabilis).
beautiful
enough
were the habitations
"good people."
'Twas
Where
I
that led you thro' the painted meads,
upon the flowers, Ranging on every leaf an orient pearl, Which, struck together with the silken wind the light fairies danced
Of their
loose mantles,
—
made
a silver chime.
Note. By an unfortunate accident the manuscript of this^ and the five or six succeeding chapters, was lost on its way to the printers, and had to be re-written under disadvantages, for the notes and memoranda accumulated during some fifteen years had been incorporated, and the originals destroyed. Undoubtedly some omissions will have to be accounted for by this circumstance.
FREAKS OF PLANT
CHAPTER
LIFE.
275
XIII
HYGROSCOPISM.
HygROMETRIC and Hygroscopic arc two terms which have been appHed indiscriminately, or interchange-
movements
ably, to indicate certain
in
the parts of
plants resulting from a susceptibility to dryness or moisture.
These phenomena are often exhibited by
dead and
dried organs, but sometimes during vitality^
mark a
It is difficult to
phenomena nor
is
similar,
between such
distinct line
by dead and
as exhibited
living tissue,
this essential, since in all cases the causes are
and consist
in the different size, form,
density of subjacent series
and contract, at
by absorption
of
different rates,
or
loss
cells,
and
which expand
and to diverse extent,
of moisture, thus producing
twisting, curving, or contortion in alternate directions.
In other words,
it
may be
accounted for
"
by supposing
that the cells on one side are larger, and have thinner walls than those on the other
;
and these
will there-
fore
be most easily distended when placed
and
will soonest lose their fluid in drying."
One
of the oldest and best
hygroscopism,
is
the
awn of T
2
known
in water,
illustrations of
the wild oat {Avefia
FREAK'S OF
276
times gone by, has been taken ad
fatiia), which, in
vantage of by designing lous
and
men
their lower portion,
to
impose on the credu-
These awns are twisted
superstitious.
even that of the
PLANT LIFE.
in
and so susceptible of moisture,
human
damp
breath, or a
hand, that
they at once exhibit spontaneous movement, twisting
and writhing as
endued with animal
if
glers in the
"Juggood old time life.
predicted events, and told fortunes,
from
and, to
cover
its
motions
;
the cheat,
they called the
awn
the
'
leg of an Arabian spider,'
or 'the leg of an enchanted fly.'
"
The
it
true rendering
phenomena, when
of the
came
to
supplanted
be understood, the
jugglers.
Hooke, one of the early Fig. 49.
—Wild oat {Avejia
writers
on
objects,
saw beneath the
microscopical
faiuci).
mystery, for he writes " Its
sensibility
to
changes
seems to depend on the
awn
is
stances, one that
is
parts, for the
in
different
the
which
—
texture of
its
composed of two kinds of subvery porous, loose, and spongy,
into which the watery streams of the air easily forced,
:
atmosphere
will
may be
very
be thereby swelled and ex-
HYGROSCOPISM. tended
dimensions
in its
hard and
close, into
or not at
all
;
277
and a second that
is
more
which the water can very Httle
penetrate, this therefore retaining always
very near the same dimensions, and the other stretching and shrinking, according as there
moisture or water in
its
pores,
is
more or
less
by reason of the make
and shape of the parts the whole body must necessarily
unwreath and wreath
which, although not a native,
Another
itself"^ is
grass,
often cultivated, has
very long awns, which are subject to twisting and writhing under increase or
The whole
structure
of this species were
decrease
of
and mode of action in made the subject of an
moisture.
the awns elaborate
by Mr. Francis Darwin." The seed terminates downwards in a sharp, strong, oblique point, armed with a dense plume of barb-like hairs upwards it is continued in a strong, woody awn, of which the lower part is strongly twisted on its own investigation
;
axis,
and
its
upper portion untwisted and fringed
with a series of beautiful hairs, so as to impart a feathery appearance.
It is
bent like a knee between
the twisted and untwisted portions. fixed,
is
and the awn
free,
When
the seed
moisture applied to
causes the lower portion to untwist, and with
it
it
the
Hooke, " Micrographia," p. 151. Hygroscopic Mechanism by which Certain Seeds Bury Themselves," " Linnsean Transactions," 2nd series, vol. i., *
-
"On the
p. 149-
FREAKS OF PLANT
278
feathered upper part
movement
is
carried round, so that the
As
conspicuous.
is
LIFE.
the moisture evapo-
lower portion of the
rates, the twisting of the
awn
again takes place, and the twisting and untwisting
may be
repeated at
will,
as moisture
If the feathered
withheld.
and the seed
is free,
is
applied or
end of the awn
fixed,
is
the latter will be carried round,
movement The object of
rotating with the
of the twisting or un-
twisting awn.
the investigations allu-
ded to was to determine what was the reason twisting,
and what purpose
of the plant.
which
may
it
served in the
Without entering
be consulted at
will, it
into
for this
economy
the details,
may be assumed
as proved that the hygrometric property possessed
by the awn, whereby
twisted and untwisted, would
it
enable the sharp point at the lower extremity of the seed to penetrate and bury
itself in
the ground.
It
was shown by experiment "that the seed was buried, both as it untwists, and also as it returns to a state By a combination of these two processes of torsion. the
awn
is
thrust into the soil to such a depth as to
cover up the seed completely."
A seed entangled in
the branches of a low bush, and
left
eight days,
had buried
itself to
out of doors for
a depth of thirty-one
millimetres, or nearly double the length of the seed,
impaling a piece of rotten leaf
in its
way.
It
was
found that seeds dropped from a height of a few feet usually preserved a nearly vertical position, striking
HYGROSCOPISM. the ground with the point.
If
279
allowed to
low vegetation they become fixed
in a
fall
among
more or
less
oblique position, the seed resting on the ground.
The
length of the feather renders entanglement easy^
and,
when a seed
to hold
it
fast
is
The movement allied species
once entangled, the hairs serve
and prevent the wind blowing in
in the
it
away.
awn of Stipa spartea, an Red River colony, cause the
the
sharp, rigid points of the seed to enter
and bury
themselves in the wool of the sheep with which the grass
comes
into contact.^
Further than
this, it is
by their movement, and cause the death of the
affirmed that the seeds penetrate the skin screw-like
At
same time that hygroscopism receives an by these grasses, its utility is demonstrated by the dissemination of the seeds, and continuance of the species. In the Geranium family, animals.
the
illustration
after the ovules are fertilised, the centre of the recep-
tacle continues to
grow
until
it
is
prolonged into a
long beak, with the seeds arranged around the base,
and the elongated beak.
The
styles applied to the sides of the
peculiar beak-like form which the fruit
thus assumes has acquired for the plants the popular
names of
Crane's-bill, Stork's-bill, &c.
The mode
in
which the carpels are loosened at the base, and curl
upwards
like a
^
See
watch-spring to the top of the beak,
Museum No.
2,
Royal Gardens, Kew.
is
FREAKS OF PLANT
28o
familiar to all
who have observed
That the twisting
family.
LIFE.
members
the
of the
the result of an hygro-
is
awn has been demonstrated by He says "The narrow carpel is the long awn or style in drying
metric property in the Professor
Asa Gray.^
pointed at the base
;
:
bends at right angles with the
many
carpel,
and untwists
in a
moister air or
when
wondered that no one seemed account of the
way
which
in
to
wind over the loose or sandy
soil
prefer, the seed bearing end,
next to the ground, and
gives a rotary
We
had
acts so
Dispersed by the
which these species
being the heavier,
lies
the comparatively fixed
it
twisting
movement
in the soil, and,
causes
is
wet.
have given an
around which the long awn makes circular
sweeps, whether in
end
twists in
mechanism
this
as to bury the seed in the ground.
point
and
depending on the amount of dryness,
turns,
to bore into
M. Roux says that
or
untwisting.
This
to the carpel, fixes the sharp
whether twisting or untwisting,
and bury in
the ground."
itself in
Erodhnn, when the seeds are
thus interred, the moisture of the
soil
soon destroys
the epidermis, and this allows the long beak to de-
tach
itself at its articulation
planted
Thus
in
then,
good condition it
may
be seen
with the
style, leaving
quietly to
that,
by
their
it
germinate.
own hygro-
' " Use of Hygrometric Twisting of the Tail to the Carpels of Erodium," " Ainerican Journal," 3rd series, vol. xi., 1879, p. 153.
HYGROSCOPISM. scopy,
seeds
the
become
28r
own
their
and
planters,
effectually secure themselves in a favourable position
to ensure the continuance of the species.
The
little
name
cruciferous plant to which the
"rose of Jericho" JiicrocJiuntind),
been
has
applied
has a divided claim
to
of
{Anastatica
be included
with hygroscopic, and also with mystic plants.
It is
a native of the dry wastes of Northern Africa and Palestine,
a small
and
sandy deserts of Arabia.
the
bushy
not
plant,
more than
inches high.
After flowering the leaves
the branches
become
dry, shrivel,
It
is
five
or
six
fall
off,
and
and curve inwards
towards the centre, so as to form the plant into a kind of
In this condition
ball.
the
across
it
is
easily uprooted from
by the winds, blown and tossed the desert into the sea. Upon coming into
soil,
carried
contact with water the plant again unfolds
itself,
the
branches expand, the seed vessels open and disperse the seeds, which are carried by the tide and deposited
on the shore.
The property
of expanding
when
in
contact with moisture led to a superstitious regard for the plant which,
it
was
believed,
expanded on the
anniversary of the birth of our Saviour. also if
The
plant
may be
is
will
was called
kept for years,
preserved in a dry place, but at any time
root it
Rosa Mm'ice.
It
when the
placed in water, or the entire plant immersed
expand and,
it
is
said, in the course of
a few
hours the buds of the flowers will swell, and appear
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
282
as if
newly taken from the ground.
calls
it
that all
"
the " heath rose
the coiner spoiled the
name
plants that have bin written
more unlike unto the
Old Gerard
of Jericho,"
rose."
in the mint, for
there
of,
He
but he says
*
is
of
not any
gives a description
similar to that recorded above, with figures of the
plant in the dried and also in the expanded state.
Akin in its movements to the HierocJnintina is the "wind witch" of the Russian steppes, so graphically described by Schleiden " In autumn the stem of the thistle plant rots off and the globe of branches dries up into a ball, light as a feather, which is then driven through the air by the autumnal Avinds, over the steppe. Numbers of such balls often fly at once over the plain with such rapidity that no horseman :
can catch springs
them,
now hopping with
along the ground, onward
dance over the
turf,
suddenly a hundred "
wind witch
"
in a
now caught by an into the
feet
quick
spirit-like
eddy, rising
Often one
air.
hooks on to another, twenty more join
company, and the whole
away
short,
gigantic, yet airy
mass
rolls
before the piping east wind."^
The applied
designation the
to
" rose
capsular
of
fruiis
Jericho
Gerard, " Herbal,"
=>
Schleiden,
"The
has been
of a species of fig
marygold, from the Cape of Good
1
"
lib. 3, p.
Hope {Mesembry1,386.
Plant," p. 354,
HYGROSCOPISM.
On
anthetmun tripolmvi).
when placed open
like
a
In this
we
see the
inasmuch as
Fig.^o.
become
dry.
this circumstance, says
wisdom of an All-wise
this plant,
arid plains of
seed vessels gradually
closing again as they
Thunberg, remarking on "
the approach of rain, or
in water, these
star,
^83
which
is
found
South Africa, keeps
— Q.z.-^swXtsoiJMesembry-
antheinum tripolium closed.
its
:
Creator,
in the
most
seeds closely
Fig. 51.— Capsule of Mesembryanthetmcin hi-
poUicni open.
locked up in time of drought; but
when the rainy
season comes, and the seeds can grow, capsules,
and
lets fall
dispersed abroad."
it
opens
its
may
be
the seeds, that they
These capsules have
known by the name of " Flowers of The violent dehiscence of fruits
also
been
Crete." is
occasioned
m
FREAKS OF PLANT
284
many
LIFE.
by the hygroscopism of some of the Although this usually takes place in dead some of the instances arc of interest in this
instances
parts. tissues,
known is the fruit of the sand box-tree {H2ira crepitans). The capsule is about the size of an orange, and consists of a number of
connection.
carpels,
One
of the best
packed together side by
When
side.
dry
the carpels separate.
and
fly
apart with a
When
loud report.
once separated they
pressed their
com-
be
cannot
again
original
into
form.
These capsules were used
as
boxes,"
be-
formerly "
sand
-
fore the invention of
paper,
blotting
had to be bound
but to-
gether in order to pre//>.
52- -Sand-box {Hum
crepitans).
vent their sudden dehiscence.
unusual for them
to fly in pieces after
It
many
was not
years.
of some plants of the pea and bean have a tendency to separate at {Leguminoscs) family
The pods
become twisted with considerable force. The the valves, and
or curl large
backwards
pods
of
an
// ] 'GROSCOPIS.V.
285
African tree {Pentaclethra macropJiylld) possess this property in an exaggerated degree.
When
fastened
together by strong wires they break themselves in pieces in their efforts to
these pods
is
become
with a breadth of about
From
The
free.^
length of
from twenty-two to twenty-five inches, three and a-half inches.
the observations of Professor Oliver,
has
it
been ascertained that the increase and decrease of length between dryness and moisture cent., so that the contraction in
be
less
than three inches.
sixteen per
is
one pod would not
Contractility of a similar
character but to a less extent has been observed in a plant of the cucumber family (Echinocystis lobata)}
An
illustration of a difFercnt
adduced works.
is
furnished
one of
in
his
which bears a name
in
hygrometric predilections {Porlieria
its
Jiygyonictrlcd).
he
by Dr. Darwin,
It refers to a plant
allusion to
kind to those hitherto
"In the Botanic Gardens at Wurzburg,"
says, " there
was a plant
in
a pot, out of doors,
which was daily watered, and another ground which was never watered.
in the
and dry weather there was a great difference state of the leaflets
open
After some hot
on these two plants
;
in the
those on
the unwatered plant, in the open ground, remaining half,
or even quite, closed during the day.
'
But twigs
'
Oliver, in " Linnjean Transactions," xxvi., p. 415.
2
Wyman,
" Proceedings American Academy,"
iii.,
p. 167.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
286
cut from this bush, with their ends standing in water, or wholly
immersed
in
it,
or kept in
damp
air,'
under
a bell glass, opened their leaves though exjDosed to a blazing sun, whilst those on the plant in the ground
The leaves on this same plant some heavy rain, remained open for two days they then became half closed during two days, and This plant after an additional day were quite closed. was now copiously watered, and on the following morning the leaflets were fully expanded. The other remained closed.
after
plant,
;
growing
heavy
rain,
leaflets
in a pot, after
having been exposed to
was placed before a window, with
its
open, and they remained so during the day-
time for forty-eight hours, but after an additional day
The
were half closed.
plant was then watered, and
the leaflets on the two following days remained open.
On
the third day they were again half closed, but on
being again watered remained open during the two
From
next days.
these facts we. may conclude that
the plant soon feels the want of water, and that as
soon as this occurs, leaflets,
which
in
it
partially or quite
expose a small surface to evaporation. that this
when
sleep-like
the ground
is
"
its
It is
probable
movement, which occurs only dry,
is
an adaptation against the
loss of moisture."!
'
closes
then imbricated condition
their
The Movements
of Plants," p.
-^yj.
HYGROSCOPISM. The hygroscopic of Selaginclla
have
plants
somewhat the appearance
uncommon
the classification there
when
some of the
character of
species
These
famihar to horticulturists.
is
mosses, and are not
to the species
2S7
is
in
of
large
In
greenhouses.
one entire section devoted
which have the foliage curved inwards
dry, so that
many
of
them
roll
This
tion into the form of a ball.
up by contracis
the habit of
Selaginella convahita, a species abundant in Bahia
and Pernambuco, and which from
latter has
its
also of Selaginclla lepidopJiylla,
been called the
"
Resurrection plant,"
One
habit of expanding under moisture.
phenomenon
the earliest observers of this
America was the celebrated
in
of
South
traveller Martius,
who
called the plant Lycopodiuni hygroinetriann.
variations
Sensibility to
important factor
of the ferns.
by an
elastic ring,
sporangium. turity,
"
humidity
also an
is
dispersion of the spores in
in the
many
in
In these the sporangia are girt
which
When
assists in the rupture of the
the sporangia arrive at
ma-
and are under certain favourable conditions as
to dryness, the elasticity of the ring causes
them
to
burst open with force and sound sufficient to be heard,
and
this takes place in
a direction
at,
or very near to,
a right angle with the direction of the ring."
^
This
serves to remind us that the bursting of the spathe
'
Smith, " Ferns, British and Foreign,"
p. 51.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
.288
some palms, with a loud
in
as sometimes
report,
The
recorded, will be due to a like cause.
dryness
of the atmosphere inducing contraction in one series of
cells,
greater than in another, produces a violent
rupture, as in the separation of the carpels of the *'
sand-box," accompanied by a sharp sound. Microscopists hold in great favour an object which
and consists
finds a place in almost every " cabinet,"
common
of the peristome of the
{Funaria hygronietrica).
In
this,
species, especially /fj^7/z«//, the
or hood, and
when
and many other
urn-shaped receptacles
which contain the spores are at lid,
hygrometric moss
the latter
first
covered with a
away
falls
the peristome.
called
are seen
row of
to be fringed with a single or double
teeth,
These teeth converging
in-
wards cover the spores, and prev^cnt their escape,
when expanded
or recurved they permit of the free
discharge of the contents of the urn. is
moisture, opening
exceedingly sensitive to
closing
when breathed upon,
the breath evaporates.
It is
This fringe
and
or as the moisture of
a very pretty and avail-
able illustration of a vegetable hygrometer.
Some
bryologists object to this as a legitimate inference.
They
assert that the
movement
is
not
vital,
but
is
merely mechanical, resulting from the diverse character of the outer
the peristome to
be
thus
is
and inner layer of
composed.
accurately
cells,
of which
Admitting the structure described,
it
becomes
a
HYGROSCOPISM.
289
which
structural adaptation to secure a certain end, is
beneficial to the plant.
Surely
it
must be too
delicate a distinction to admit specialised structure in other instances, such as stigmatic surfaces,
and
reject
it
in this.
As
the peristome takes place whilst the plant
even whilst the urn of the plant living
;
and as
it
is
&c.,
the opening and closing of
is still
is
living,
attached and
of a manifest utility in securing
when
the dispersion of the spores at such a period as
the moisture of the atmosphere would best secure their
germination,
we
are
prepared to retain the
peristome of mosses as a satisfactory illustration of
hygroscopism. In the Liverworts {Hepaticci) the spores are mixed in the capsules with spiral threads, or elaters.
If the
contents of one of these capsules are moistened after
they have become dry, the spiral threads
v/ill
be seen
wriggling and twisting about, by means of the relaxation of the spiral, such
movement
being'
also
of assistance in the dispersal of the spores.
In the
same manner we have observed the threads in such Myxomycetes as TricJiia, in which the threads are spiral, relax
become
a
little
when moistened
after they
have
dry, but, in this instance, only to a limitec
extent.
The examples we have given
are sufficient to
show
inasmuch as there are movements in plants which result from the influences of light, temperathat,
U
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
290
ture,
and other causes, as demonstrated
chapters
so also there are
;
pendent upon the of
slightest variation in the
phenomena
we become
assured that,
every
there
leaf,"
is
preceding
movements which
the surrounding atmosphere.
investigate the
in
The
further
of plant-life, the if
there
is
are de-
humidity
we
more do
not " a soul in
at least a marvellous adaptation
of the parts, like a well-ordered machine, in order to secure definite and essential results. In
all
places, then,
and
in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching
How And
us,
by most persuasive reasons,
akin they are to
human
things.
with child-like, credulous affection,
We behold
their tender
buds expand
:
Emblems of our own great resurrection Emblems of the bright and better land. ;
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
CHAPTER
291
XIV.
DISPERSION.
In many cases there
is
undoubtedly a close
between the form which
tionship
fruits
rela-
or seeds
assume, and the mode by which they are dispersed. If
it
be
true, as
some contend, that the ultimate is its own perpetuation, then
object of every plant
the dispersion of the seed
which consummates
all
is
an important operation,
other acts, and
it
would be
anticipated that adequate provision would be to ensure
its
full
This
attainment.
is
made
certainly not
accomplished by any uniform method, but through various agencies, and in a multitude of ways. shall
how
be able
in
some
the operation
is
comprehend
cases to
performed, whilst in others
more complex, and sometimes in dispersion is the
We
distinctly it is
One agency
obscure.
wind, which wafts seeds that are
provided with wings to their destination.
Another
which
they are
agency
undoubtedly water
is
floated to a congenial spot. tion of local force,
by
is
specialised
Another
elasticity or
means of which the seeds Another
in
are
structure
U
2
is
the applica-
hygroscopy, by
forcibly
expelled.
bv
of which
aid
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
292
various animals are utilised as a
means of
transport.
In these, and various collateral ways, we are enabled to associate the modifications of form with the
of distribution, and
modes
that this chapter
Illustrations will also
be found scattered
examples of these is
devoted.
it is
mode
to a few of the most striking
different
volume
through other portions of
this
when given
with other subjects, and
in association
incidentally,
especially in the chapter on " mimicry," in which the
same type of
mode
structure,
and, presumably, the
same
of dispersion will be found repeated in different
and widely separated
orders.
Neither here nor there
have we assumed the exhaustion of so
When
writing of hygroscopism
fertile
we have
a theme.
already
alluded to the facility with which the seeds are dis-
persed from such
and jerk out In a
burst open with violence
fruits as
their contents, as in the
similar
manner
sand-box
we might have
tree.
instanced
Bytincria aspcra, one of the order Stcradiacca;, but a
more
important
Mahogany fruits of
tree
tree
many
in
{Swicleiiia
which separate so
seeds, that
it is
respects
maJiogani), freely,
the
is
and disperse the
meet with any but
difficult to
the
woody frag-
ments of the capsule in the countries where it Another advantage is possessed by this flourishes. tree, in that
a
the seeds themselves are winged, like
samara, so that
combined
in
two
the same
modes of dispersion
fruit.
are
DISPERSION.
The
balsams, which a few years ago were great
favourites in country districts,
window, scatter
cottager's
Fig.
distance
by the
allusion to "
293
53.
and ornamented every
their seeds
to
a
great
— Balsam {Iinpatiens).
violent
rupture of
the
fruits,
in
which circumstance they have been called
Touch-me-not."
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE
294
A remarkable be seen
from
instance of violent dehiscence
member
in a
habits the " squirting cucumber."
its
The
dica elateriwii).
an
When
prickles. stalk,
small oval
and a half
inch
is
to
named [Momor-
of the cucumber family,
fruit,
length,
in
is
not more than
with
covered
quite ripe this separates from the
and jerks out
are mixed, from the
its juice,
little
with which the seeds
The
opening at the base.
was formerly considered valuable as a medicine, and was cultivated for that purpose in this country, fruit
but
now
to be
that
met
its
use has been superseded
is
it
rarely
with.
The witch
hazel of North
America {Haviajuclis
virginicd) exhibits a peculiar elasticity in the seeds,.
or
embryo of the
seeds,
which are thrown out with
such force as to strike people violently in the face
who
Collecting a number them on the floor, Mr. the seeds, or embryos were
pass through the woods.
of the capsules, and laying
Meehan found thrown feet,
and
We
that
out, generally to the distance of four or six in
one instance as much as twelve
might here descend a
table world than
little
we have done
feet.
lower in the vege-
hitherto,
and indicate
amongst the lower cryptogamia one or two very decided instances of the forcible
mature
fruit
corpuscles.
have observed the grass
number of cups of a
ejection
of the
In fungi, for example, all
round a spot
in
we
which a
"bird's nest fungus" {Crucibu-
DISPERSION. liini
295
vulgare) were growing, sprinkled to the height of
six or eight inches with the ejected sporangia this
is
by an
to the cup is
and
;
a species in which the sporangia are attached elastic cord, so that forcible ejection
not a recognised means by which distribution
is
Yet no other explanation can be offered for the occurrence of the sporangia on the surrounding grass. Another species {SpJiccrobolus stcllatus) affected.
normally ruptures at
apex, and
the
sporangium, like
globose
larger than a
minute, and like fungus,
in
small
pill
into the
ball,
Still
air.
another section, the
the
no more
but
mucor-
little
which grows so profusely on cowdung, an enormous distance^
ejects the little sporangia to in
expels
cannon
a
We
proportion to the size of the plant.
have
seen them covering the leaves of vines, and other plants, in
an
minute specks,
almost
Although
incredible
like
the
dung of
distance from their
at first received with
agarics
at
source.
some doubt,
C. B.
some do not simply fall from the hymenium, ejected, in some manner not yet explained,
Plowright has affirmed that the spores
but are
flies,
for three or four inches, not
of
only in a line with, but
above the plane from whence they proceed.
We
have since been able to corroborate the
two
fact, in
or three instances, but without succeeding in tracing the cause, or being
able
to
submit a reasonable
theory to account for the phenomenon.
Inasmuch
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
296
as
we were
at
?ceptical, with others,
first
we
greater pleasure that
Passing
now
it
with
is
recant.
to atmospheric dispersion, the seeds
of composite plants are transported from place to place, chiefly
by means of the pappus with which Although varying in different
they are crowned.
species, this coronet has but "
sion of the plant.
one purpose, the disper-
Elevated on the apex of a long
beak, the parachute of the seed of the goatsbeard
{Tragopogon pratensis)
consists
of
a
number of
slender spokes, which diffuse themselves circularl}-,
and are fashion intricate
" telarly
of the
somewhat
interwoven,"
spider's
structure
is
given as a countervail to the
great size and weight of the seed.
the dandelion pedicle, it
and
is
is
the
after
This comparatively
web.
The down
of
supported on a long and slender
an object of vulgar admiration
but
;
scarcely equals in beauty the similarly patterned
fruit of
The
the helminthia.
the contrary, sessile
— the
thistle's-down
is,
on
threads being sometimes
only spinous, at other times plumed like a feather
and the down of the coronet
latter
is
of the carlinc thistle
elegance and
circular
peculiarly light. is
remarkable
and
spread
The
for
its
plumage, and
In the sow buoys easily its silky-coated seed. thistles what we most admire is the ribbed and striated
seeds, but the
down
that diffuses
abundant and of pure whiteness.
The
them
is
seeds of the
DISPERSION. coltsfoot afford an in the order,
297
example of a structure, common is surmounted by a tuft
where the seed
of silken hairs armed, at regular intervals, with a series of denticles or spines, only visible with a
magnifier. fruit
We
have a contrast to
good
this in the curious
of the blue-bottle {Ccntaiirea cyaned) which has
a small
tuft of asbestine spines at the base,
and a large
but short tuft of rigid stout lanceolate spines on the top, the edges of each of
them indented with
and sharp serratures
a saw.
float the
seed in the
and hasten
its
like air,
but
it
close
This tuft cannot
will obviously direct
descent into the
soil,
and
it
will
be
remarked that the forward direction of the spines
must be opposed
to every influence to cast
them up
again, after having been buried under the surface."^
The
stalks of the
down
olosely together in moist
provision to secure
tiful
dandelion contract
in the
and wet weather — a beauits
dispersion only in a dry
when it is driven off by every zephyr, and not unoften by the schoolboy, who thus endeavours to
day,
resolve his doubts as to the hour
:
Dandelion, with globe of down.
The school-boy's clock in every town, Which the truant puffs amain
To
The
dispersion of seeds
delicate hairs ^
conjure lost hours back again.
is
by means of a coronet of
not confined to composite plants.
Johnston's " Botany of the Eastern Borders,"
p. 126.
FREAKS OF PLANT
298
A
may be
provision
like
LIFE.
observed in the willow
many
herbs {Epilobiuni), and in
of the ApocynacecB,
Yet
as well as the Asdepiadacece.
provision for the dispersal of seeds
is
is
only one
Another, and equally successful contriv-
the wind.
ance
this
by the agency of
the expansion of the sides of the seed into a
membranous wing.
These winged seeds reach
highest development
their
the trumpet flowers {Big-
in
where the large wings extend three or
noniacece),
four inches, and the seeds float like a large butterfly,
wafted from place to place, until a secure
is
own country such winged seeds if wc exclude the heavier and
In our
reached.
home
are usually minute, less delicate
ash,
and
latter
elm,
fruits
which
are
which prevail
We
very diverse plants.
is
dispersion
which we
in
when
by
shall
writing
the organs of
are justified, then, in assert-
ing that special provision
many
seeds through the
Spiny
fruits
are found
These
samarce.
their
refer again hereafter,
of the similarities
many
called in
their wing-like margins, to
have occasion to
of
of such trees as the maple,
aided
doubtless
arc
means of
winged
is
made
for the dispersion
air, by means of the wind. amongst the members of
of the families in the vegetable kingdom.
It
evident that the rigid spines with which they are
armed
aid
name
of
these,
in
considerably in
" caltrops "
allusion
to
their
dispersion.
The
has been applied to some of the " calcitrapa
"
which was
DISPERSIOA\ employed
in ancient warfare to harass the
One
cavalry.
299
terrestris)
is
of these kind
enemy's
of caltrops {Ti-ibuhis
widely diiTused, probably on account
of the facility with which the fruits are transported
Caltrops, or fruits of Tribuhis icrrcsiri
in
the wool
animals.
of
They have an
elegant,
symmetrical, star-like form, and the spines are very
sharp and
Another, but
rigid.
{Pedalmui niurex) has similar manner.
its
complex,
fruit
dispersion provided for in a
The name
P^^S- 55-
less
of caltrops has also been
— Fruits oi Pcdaliiiiii vutrcx.
given to one of our indigenous plants, called also "starthistle,"
on account of the sharp spines of
involucre {Centaurea calcitrapd). are the
woody
More efficient some of
recurved hooks with which
spines of fruits are terminated.
its
To
still
the
a limited extent
FREAKS OF PLANT
300
this
may be
LIFE.
seen in the small fruits of the carrot,
and a few other of the Umbelliferae, but much more strongly developed in the " burrs " of the burdock
Fig. 56.
{Lappa).
We
— Burdock {Lappa minor)
are familiar
with which these
"'
burrs
enough with the tenacity
" will
adhere to the clothing
of any one passing amongst the plants, but their
DISPERSION.
301
entanglement in the woolly coat of animals
more
complete.
Similar
burrs
XantJimni stniniarium, which
is
is
much by
produced
are
not a native plant,
but has been introduced by the pertinacious adhesion allied
of
its
fruits
common
to
tropical species {XantJiiwn spinoswn)
has by a similar means spread area,
An
the coats of animals.
itself
becoming" thereby a nuisance In South Africa
adopted homes.
it
in
over a wide
some of
its
has established
itself,
by means of the merino sheep, and
itself
through the sheep-walks of the colony to such
"
extended
a degree, and so endangered the character of the
wool through
its
achenes, that
enactments have been made pation,
kept
it
and
rigid
special
regard to
legislative its
extir-
enforcement of penalties alone has
from being a sweeping curse to the wool-
producers.
only until
In the Orange River Republic, where last
year (1872) this weed was allowed
to revel undisturbed, save
boer was given
more
in
where some stray Dutch
less to coffee-drinking
and
sleep,
and
to an intelligent regard for the future of his
pasturage,
it
had so
of the country as to
affected the
make
it
wool of some parts
nearly unremunerative
Tardy legislation on the obnoxious introduction had to be adopted there also." 1
as a staple
*
p.
Dr. John
202.
product.
Shaw
in
"Journal of Linn^an Society,"
xvi.,
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. The
"cleavers,"
or
aparine), found in every
"goose-grass"
which are densely covered with minute hooks,
fruits
and transportation is rendered climates, where hooked fruits
easy.
of these {Mar/ynia
one
hooks are very sharp and ing the
warmer
It is in
attain a larger dimen-
they present a formidable appearance.
that
sion,
In
{Galium
hedge and thicket has small
like a needle
flesh
the pair of
diajidra)
rigid, ;
the points enter-
but even these are
exceeded by another species {Proboscidea
which
the
Jiissieiii),
Frank wont to
late
was
Buckland declare
must
created
for
have
been
express
the
purpose of sticking to the
Fiz. ^
i;?.
^'
— Hooked .
,.
fruits ,
Maj'tyina diandra.
tails
of
that
roam the
the
wild
horses
plains of t-u
ofcSouth i-UA™ America. •
horns
species
this
in
The
are often five or six inches in length, and the aspect
may
be readily imagined from our reduced figure
The same
(fig. 58).
family contains the Grapnel plants,
of which one species {HarpagopJiytiuii Icptocarpiini)
found
in
Madagascar, and another
gopJiytuni proainibcns). tive of the two,
latter,
and most in
in
all
effec-
appear-
armed with a number of
thorns, standing out
is
Africa {Harpa-
although least formidable
ance, has the capsule
woody
The
in
rigid
directions, their
DISPERSION. tips
furnished with two or three recurved
Hke miniature grapnels. such
303
a
fruit
may
being rather
to
remaining at
rest
Fig. 58.
is
in
hooks
easy to imagine
be transported,
believe (fig.
It
the
how
difficulty
the possibility of
its
59).
— Fruit oi Proboscidca Jussietii x^dMCcd.
There could scarcely be a more conclusive evidence of the utility of a large national collection of such objects as those which are the subject of this chapter
FREAKS OF PLANT
304
than a
visit to
the
museums
at
LIFE.
Kew
Gardens would
Instead of a hasty glance at mere curiosities,
afiford.
we would suppose
the visitor to foster
some such
design as to go in search of specialised forms of fruits
which would be serviceable
^'^- 59-
— Fruit of Grapnel
in dispersion
plant, natural size
;
or to trace.
{Harpagopliytum
Icptocarptiin).
in
passing from case to case and from order to order,
the recurrence of similar forms in diverse families, so like as to suggest
only to
mimicry.
With such an
be gratified by such
would venture
an
institution,
to affirm that not cnly
afford far greater satisfaction,
object,
would a
we visit
and would excite more
DISPERSION.
305
intense pleasure, but would also considerably increase
the visitor's
own
appreciation of the educational value
of an exhibition too often
without so
What liar
much
interpretation
form of the
is
and the
commonly is
not so
clear.
fruit of
The
of Trapa,
plants float
one species {Trapa
bull.
China, resembles
Another species {Trapa
largely cultivated in Cashmere.
Fig. 61.
fear,
to be assigned to the pecu-
cultivated in
the head and horns of a bispinosa)
we
memory.
— Fruit of Trapa bicornis.
Fig. 60.
bicornis),
is
fruits in the different species
or " water-chestnut," in the water,
looked upon,
as leaving a trace on the
— Fruit of Trapa bispinosa. X
In this
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
3o6
The
by acute
the bull's horns are replaced
fruit
spines.
cultivated to such an extent that
latter is
it is
said to constitute a large portion of the food of the inhabitants,
and
yields
Moorcroft
revenue.
about ^i2,ooo a year in
from 96,000
that
asserts
to
128,000 ass loads are yielded by the lake of Ooller.^
There
is
fruits, in
another species, with rather smaller
still
which four long
spines
rigid
are placed
nearly in the same plane, at right angles to each other
Had
quadrispinosd).
{Tt'apa
duced on land instead of water,
they been pro-
might
it
fairly
have
been assumed that these appendages would have assisted in dispersion, but under the existing circum-
stances their utility
The
not so evident.
is
suspension or retention of seeds in a favour-
able position, until in a
has been observed
marked
in
fit
condition to germinate,
some
cases in a
manner so
as to suggest a special contrivance for the
perpetuation of the species.
A
provision
of this
nature has been recorded in a plant of the sedge family, native of
which consists are at
first
themselves.
New
Zealand {GaJinia xanthopliylla),
in the filaments of the stamens,
short,
When
the ovary
the investing scales, and would
ripened so as to
is
form the nut containing the seed,
'
which
and afterwards greatly lengthen
it
fall
is
detached from
to the
ground
Royle's " Illustrations of Himalayan Botany," p. 211.
if
DISPERSION.
it
were not caught and retained by the long
ments.
more
It is
probable that the object
is
fila-
to obtain a
perfect maturity of the seeds before they drop
to the ground.!
There
is
probably
relation in principle
some
between
the suspension of the seeds in
gahnia to what takes place
amongst the members of one For
or two families of trees. instance,
which
on
inhabit
the
mangroves,
the
the
margins
swamps of
great
generally retain their
rivers,
suspended
seeds
to
the
branch until after germinahas commenced, and when they drop it is into the soft mud, where they immetion
diately take
In
root.
like
manner some of the Maghave
nolias
pended
the
at the
seeds
Fig. 62.
" Gardener's
fall.
Chronicle."
sus-
end of the umbilical cords from the
margins of the carpels, presumably
may
— Fruit of Gahnia
xantJiopJiylla suspended.
in
order that they
reach a proper degree of maturity before they
Examples of ^
this
kind are not numerous, but
"Gardener's Chronicle," December
X
2
13, 1873.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
-,o8
sufficient to afford
menon
first
alluded
some explanation of the phenoSir James Smith says, in allu-
to.
sion to the Egyptian
bean {Nelunibium
speciosinn), " in
process of time the receptacle separates from the stalk, and, laden with ripe oval nuts, floats
The
nuts vegetating,
it
down
the water.
becomes a cornucopoeia of sprouting young which
plants,
at
length break loose
from their confine-
ment and take in
root
the mud."
The most remarkable
tropical
of
fruits, in their struc-
tural
aspect,
are
some of the myrtle family, the seeds of Tig. 63.
— Receptacle of the Egyptian
Bean {NcluinbiuDi
speciosuin).
which are enclosed in
a
large
woody
urn, or capsule, like
a drinking-vessel with a movable
them the
fruit
is
no
in others as large as a
form
is
lid.
In some of
larger than a small
man's head.^
elegant and urn-like, in others
walnut,
In some the it
resembles
See descriptions and figures of a large number of species in "Transactions of the Linna:an Society," vol. xxx., p. 157, &c. »
DISPERSION.
Ft^. 64.
— Monkey pots {Lecythis
309
sp.).
FREAKS OF PLANT a vase
(fig.
and are
trees,
They
64).
LIFE.
are produced on large forest-
common
throughout South America,
The monkeys
but especially in the forests of Brazil. are exceedingly fond of the
"
delicious
sapucaia
As
nuts which are produced within these capsules.
Kingsley writes
:
—
enough to serve
The
"
great urn-shaped
big
each kindly
drinking-vessels,
for
fruits,
provided with a round wooden cover, which becomes
and
loose,
out the savoury sapucaia nuts inside,
lets
to the comfort of will there
all
our
arise a tropic
some of the strange selfish,
poor
Ah, when
relations.'
Landsecr to draw
for us
fashions of the strange birds and
beasts of these lands
cunning,
'
.'
— to
draw, for instance, the
greedy grin of delight on the face of
some
burly, hairy, goitred old red howler, as
off a
'
monkey-cacao
'
cover,
he
lifts
and looks defiance out
of the corners of his winking eyes at his wives and children, cousins
and grandchildren, who
jabbering and screeching, and, ing their heads upside
down
monkey
sit
round
fashion, twist-
as they put their
arms
round each other's waists, to peer over each other's shoulders at the great bully, first
who must
as his fee for having roared to
feed himself
them
at sunrise on a tree top while they sat
for
an hour
on the lower
branches and looked up, trembling and delighted, at the sound and fury of the idiot sermon."^
>
Kingsley's "
At
Last," p. 277.
DISPERSION.
The name fruits,
is
of
it
falls, its lid
drops
When
the cup roll out,
:
off,
these
to
the seeds
"
then becomes a hard pot, with a narrow
These pots are used
mouth.
The sugar
which such animals frequent. disturbed,
who pick when they
sugar as
will hold,
latter,
it
their prize.
But
catching monkeys.
for
they are placed on the ground
Filled with sugar
the
applied
pot, as
said to have arisen thus
of a Lecythis
and
monkey
311
it
out leisurely
attracts
they are
till
paw, grasp as
insert the
much
and endeavour to escape with
their
doubled
being larger than
fist
mouth of the pot cannot be withdrawn, and the monkeys tenaciously holding the sugar, run off with
the
a pot firmly enclosing one paw. possible for
them
This renders
it
to escape from their pursuers
climbing, and they are easily run down."
may
^
credit of the
monkeys,
young and
inexperienced that are caught
it
be added, that
To it is
in
im-
by the the this
manner, and not the old and wary patriarchs, as intimated by the proverb, "
He
is
too
old a
common
monkey
to
in
South America,
be caught with a
Cabomba."
The
nearest resemblance
we have
in this
country
to the structure of the fruits of the Lecythis are the
comparatively minute and insignificant
little
capsules
of the Pimpernel {Anagallis) and the Henbane.
'
" Gardener's Chronicle,"
December
28, 1861, p. 1,133.
In
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
312
these instances the seeds are enclosed in a capsule,
which opens with a deciduous sule
is
mature the
lid falls off,
In a remote manner,
persed.
When
lid.
the cap-
and the seeds are if
dis-
such a comparison
can be legitimately made, the hood, or cap, of the theca, or capsule, in mosses falls
off,
and the spores
escape, except that they are subject to further retention, until a suitable season,
by the incurved
teeth of
the peristome. It is
of the is
easy enough to comprehend the "wherefore"
monkey
pots,
and
movable
their
but
lids,
it
not so evident why, in similar trees of the same
family, the seeds should be enclosed in hard, capsules, with no orifice,
woody
and from which there
is
no
by the decay of the thick envelope. Such are the Brazil nuts of commerce {Bcrthollctia excelsd). " The fruit, round like a cannon ball, and about the escape, but
size
of a twenty-four pounder,
harder than the
is
hardest wood, and has to be battered to pieces with the back of a hatchet to disclose the nuts.
who has hammered
at a
Any one
Bertholletia fruit will be
ready to believe the story that the Indians, fond as they are of the nuts, avoid the fruit
has
all fallen for
'
totocke
'
trees
fear of fractured skulls."
^
Capuchin monkeys, according to Humboldt, singularly fond
'
of these
'
the
till
The "
are
chestnuts of Brazil,' and
Kingsley's " At Last "
p.
276.
DISPERSION. the noise as
made by
falls
it
the seeds
313
when
the fruit
He
^
does not, however, believe
monkeys
the story current on the Orinoco, that the place themselves in a
circle,
and by
with a stone succeed in opening is
sibility in this
striking the shell
That they may
it.
possible enough, for there
monkeys do use stones
no doubt that
is
to crack nuts.
;
too often to wait
the rainy season,
of
itself,
The impos-
case would be, not in the want of wits,
but want of strength
rots
shaken
from the tree excites their appetency to
the highest degree."
try
is
till
and the monkej's must have
when
the shell
and amuse themselves meanwhile
rolling the fruit about, vainly longing
in
to get their
paws in through the one little hole at its base. Another instance of these wholly closed capsules is
the fruit
guianensis).
of
the
This
cannon-ball tree {Counntpita
fruit "is
a rough
brown
globe, as
big as a thirty-two pound shot, which you must get
down with
a certain caution,
lest that befal
a certain gallant officer
befel
America.
For, fired with a post-prandial ambition
to obtain a cannon
ball,
bamboo, and poked
at the tree.
he took to himself a long
He
not altogether as he had hoped. in
ball,
coming down, avenged
succeeded, but
For the cannon
by dropping felling him to the
itself
exactly on the bridge of his nose,
'
you which
on the mainland of
Humboldt's " Personal Narrative,"
vol. v., p. 537.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
314
ground, and giving him such a pair of black eyes that he It
was not seen on parade
for a fortnight."
^
has been suggested that, in such trees as the Brazil nut, which
duced
in forests
is
pro-
swarm-
ing with monkeys, that the closed
capsule
protection,
and
had
capsule
the
is
that
a if
been
an open one, not only
would Brazil nuts make less
appearance
markets
of the
in
the
world,
but the trees would run a
risk
We we
of
must
extirpation^
confess
that
are not prepared to
accept this as a sufficient reason F/g.es.-knnonlS^\\{Courou-
are
pita guiaiiensis).
the
for
capsule.
closed
Monkey
pots
open capsules, and
the trees are not yet extirpated "
;
sapucaia
monkeys
yet "
as
with the
case speculation does
"
little
an excuse for one's own
1
are as
Kingsley's
delighted
good,
when
ig-norance.
"At
Last," p. 275.
with
the
In such a
Brazil nut." it
is
simply
DISPERSION. In
many
315
cases there appears to be no special pro-
vision for the dispersion of seeds,
and
yet,
when duly
considered, such a future has not been disregarded, It
to
may
be
covered with a pulpy
that,
attractive
fruit,
some member of the animal kingdom, the hard
seeds have thus been transported to a considerable distance,
and found a congenial
recognised
by
evident from
many much and
of our
zoologists
the
This fact
soil.
themselves,
following extract
most richly-wooded
:
as
—
"
will
is
be
Doubtless
landscapes owe
of their timber to the agency of quadrupeds
birds.
&c., feed
Linnets, goldfinches, thrushes, goldcrests,
on the seeds of elms,
firs,
and
ash,
and
them away to hedge-rows, where, fostered and by bush and bramble, they spring up, and Many noble oaks have become luxuriant trees. been planted by the squirrel, who unconsciously yields no inconsiderable boon to the domain he Towards autumn this provident little infests. animal mounts the branches of oak trees, strips off the acorns and buries them in the earth, as a supply He is most of food against the severities of winter. carry
protected
probably not gifted with a
memory
of
sufficient
retention to enable him to find every one he secretes,
which are thus the following trees.
left in
year,
the ground, and springing up
finally
grow
into
magnificent
Pheasants devour numbers of acorns
in the
autumn, some of which having passed through the
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE
3i6
The nuthatch
stomach, probably germinate. indirect
manner
Having twisted
also frequently
is
it
into
is
favourite tree,
it
oftentimes
falls to
the
caused to germinate by the moisture
Many
of winter.
some
one of the crevices of the
During the operation
ground, and
an
uneven, and endeavours by a series of
manoeuvres to peg bark.
in
planter.
boughs a cluster of beech-
off their
nuts, this curious bird resorts to
whose bole
becomes a
small beeches are found growing
near the haunts of the nuthatch, which have evidently in the. manner described."^ Not only do the birds and small quadrupeds
been planted
m
the dispersion of seeds in the
but even to a
much
way
assist
just indicated^
As, for instance,
greater extent.
the droppings of birds the
we have seen amongst
small undigested seeds of pulpy fruits which
devoured, which seeds retained
all
their
they
powers of
germination, especially of elderberries and mulberries.
This mode of dispersion
is
undoubtedly a very ex-
Neither can we ignore alto-
tensive one in practice.
may render in To what extent
gether the service which some insects the dispersion of minute organisms. this
may
may
be carried
give an
cumstance to
mould
it is
difficult to
illustration. find,
It is
determine, but
not an unusual
when examining
we cir-
a species of black
or of Tornla, growing on rotten wood, that
1
"
The
Zoologist," p. 442.
DISPERSION. insects
and
have been at work, destroyed the threads,
them
behind
left
exuviae.
317
These undoubtedly had passed through were mixed
their bodies, for fragments of threads
On two
with the spores.
determined
that
such
or three occasions
spores
These
insects
may
an increased
in
assist in the dissemina-
tion of such spores, as molluscs gills
we have
possessed the
still
power of germination, even perhaps degree.
cyHndrical
characteristic
do
in feasting
on the
of an agaric, and then retiring to the shelter of
some
These speculations, however,
prostrate trunk.
concern a very minute class of organisms which, as a rule,
we have deemed
it
prudent to ignore
in this
volume.
Then
there are larger animals which contribute
their share to the dissemination of plants, cially those of the
human
family.
It
and espe-
would be im-
possible to enter fully on such a topic, at the end of a chapter, but
one or two brief suggestions
may
Even to the present day, writes marked the footsteps of the bands of nations which in the middle ages emerged from Asia into Central Europe, by the advance of the be permitted.
Schleiden,^ are
Asiatic steppe plants, such as the kochia and the
Tartar sea-kale, the former into Bohemia and Carmola, the latter into
>
Hungary and Moravia.
Schleiden,
"The
Plant," p. 301.
The
FREAKS OF PLANT
3i8
North
American
savage
LIFE.
significantly
calls
our
plantain {Plantago major), or road weed, the "footstep of the whites," and a (
Vicia craccd)
Norwegian
common
species of vetch
marks the former abode of the
still
One
colonists in Greenland.
striking instances of this kind
is
of the most
the gradual exten-
sion of the thorn apple over the whole of Europe, which has followed the bands of gipsies out of Asia
;
this race
make
frequent use of this poisonous plant
in their unlawful proceedings,
vated by them, place
where
Auguste
it
and hence much
culti-
also occurs, uncalled for, near the
they
have
made
St. Hilairc says,^ "
habitations.
their
In Brazil, as in Europe,
certain plants appear to follow in the footsteps of
man,
and
preserve
frequently have
the
traces
they helped
of
me
his
to
presence
;
discover the
situation of a ruined hut, in the midst of the wastes
which extend out beyond Paracuta.
Nowhere have
the European plants multiplied in such abundance as in the plains between Theresia and
Monte Video,
and from
Already have
this city to the
the violet, the borage,
and
Rio Negro.
some geraniums, the
fennel,
others, settled in the vicinity of Sta. Theresia.
Everywhere we found our mallows and camomiles, our
milk-thistle,
but,
above
all,
our
artichokes,
which, introduced into the plains of the Rio de la
'
Introduction to " Flora of Brazil."
DISPERSION.
319
Plata,
and the Uruguay, now clothe immeasurable
tracts,
and render them useless
the
War
many
of Deliverance, in
After
for pasture."
places where the
Cossacks had encamped, was found the tick-seed, a plant allied to the goosefoots, which
quite exclu-
is
sively indigenous in the steppes on the Dnieper, and in
a similar manner was Bunias orientate spread with
the Russian hosts, in 18 14, through
Germany even
to
Paris.
A
curious circumstance has been recorded as this
chapter
passing through the press, which deserves
is
permanent
record, albeit,
it
would have been more
An
in place in the seventh chapter.
of LorantJins, which
grows on evergreen fruit
a
is
The
confined to the
and
which surrounds the
to whatever
germinates.
seed,
a parasite like the misletoe,
it falls
first
grows
recorded
for
the pur-
"
The
radicle at
and when
out,
flattened disc is
now
stage of germination of the
indicates a rambling habit
inch in length,
disc
;
it
it
has grown to about an
developes upon
its
extremity a
the radicle then curves about until the
applied to any object that
is
near at hand.
the spot upon which the disc has fastened able, the
takes
seed
upon, until the seed
peculiar locomotion
pose of securing a suitable home. first
The
trees, especially Mcniecylon.
viscid pulp,
and adheres is
is
Indian species
is
If
suit-
germination continues, and no locomotion
place
;
but
if
the
spot
should
not
be
a
FREAKS OF PLANT -LIFE.
320
embryo has the
favourable one, the germinating
This is accompower of changing its position. plished by the adhesive radicle raising the seed and
advancing cess
it
disc
end
the
at
adheres very tightly to whatever the radicle
raises
itself
in
it
the
air.
and the berry where itself,
it
is
The
the pro-
of the is
it
straightens, and
berry from whatever
viscid
make
to another spot, or, to
plainer, the
to
away
tears
has adhered
it
radicle
applied
to,
and
radicle then again curves,
by
carried
it
The
adheres again.
another spot,
to
then
disc
releases
and by the curving about of the radicle
advanced to another This, Dr.
itself
where
spot,
Watt
again
it
still
within the seed,
is
fixes
he has seen repeated
says,
several times, so that to a certain extent the
embryo,
;
the
moves about.
It
young seems
to select certain places in preference to others, particularly leaves.
The
certain to alight
upon
berries leaves,
on
falling are almost
and
although
many
germinate there, they have been observed to move
from
the
there."
1
*
leaves
to
the
stem,
and
finally
N. E. Brown in " Gardener's Chronicle," July
fasten
9, 1881, p. 42.
FREAKS OF PLANT
CHAPTER
LIFE.
321
XV.
MIMICRY.
In the animal kingdom certain resemblances between the members of one group and those of another, considerably removed from it in the system of classification,
have of
late years
On
discussion.
been the subject of much
the supposition that these resem-
blances have been acquired, and are designed to serve
some purpose in the economy of nature, the term "mimicry" has been applied to them. Subsequently has been proposed to substitute another term, that
it
of
"
homoplasy," but
term.
this
has not met with general
we have, therefore, adopted the older Mr. H. W. Bates first introduced the subject
acceptance
;
to notice, with
some very
metic resemblances
" in
striking
examples of
Lepidopterous
insects,
"
mi-
which
have since been much augmented by others. Very few allusions have hitherto been made to such resemblances in
plants, although
Mr. A. Bennett^ has opened the question, and with these organisms the subject
^
is
Mimicry
(1872), p.
still
in
a very elementary stage.
in Plants in "
It shall
Popular Science Review,"
I.
Y
vol. xi.
FREAKS OF PLANT
322
LIFE.
be our purpose to indicate such examples as have
come
knowledge, but rather as a record of
to our
than with any design to theorise about them.
facts
In animals blances are
it
has been contended that the resem-
acquired by natural selection and the
survival of the
The data
such resemblances being for
fittest,
the benefit of the
organisms which acquire them.
are at present insufficient to apply such a
theory to plants, but the instances are sometimes so
and curious that they could not be ignored
striking
phenomena in plant life. known plants none are more weird and
as remarkable
Of
all
singular than the Cacti, with their angular succulent
stems,
In
armed with
many
beautiful.
and
spines,
and the absence of
leaves.
instances the flowers are large, showy, and
These plants are numerous
drier parts of
"
America.
in the hotter
Sometimes
sometimes articulated, sometimes
gonal columns, not unlike organ-pipes." then attaining a very gigantic
globular,
rising in tall poly-
size,
Now
small that " they get between the toes of dogs." the similarly dry and plants
are
absent, but
arid their
tracts
place
is
represented
amongst rocks
one of these at the
In
of Africa these is
occupied by
species of Euphorbia, which resemble in form
habit the Cacti of America.
and
occasionally so
In our woodcut
(fig.
and 66)
Euphorbias, growing
Cape of Good Hope, which is our common wood spurge
entirely dissimilar from
MIMICRY. and the other Euphorbias whilst
it is
I'lg. 66.
of
323
temperate
regions,
scarcely to be distinguished from a cactus,
— Euphorbia,
resembling a cactus growing amo'ngst
rocks in
Damara Land.
except that they have usually small
Y
2
and
incon-
FREAKS OF PLANT
324
spicuous flowers.
The two
LIFE.
of plants
families
widely separated from each other, almost as possible for plants to be,
are
far as
and yet the resemblance
so great that in the absence of flowers
it is
is
difficult to
Not
believe that they do not belong to one family.
only do they resemble each other, but they are also "
imitated
daceai, of
"
by plants of another
family, the Asclepia-
which the species of Stapdia might equally
be attributed to Cacti or Euphorbia.
may
be seen
house"
at
growing
together
These plants
in the " succulent
Kew.
Before leaving these succulent plants instance certain of the
genus Hazvorihia,^ close to the
ground
in
lily
we may
also
family, small aloes of the
which the fleshy leaves grow
in the
form of a
In this
rosette.
instance the resemblance approaches to that of the
house-leek family {Crassnlaccce), further removed than
even Euphorbia and Cadets, for one belongs to Monocotyledonous and the other to Dicot}'ledonous plants. If
from these general features we turn to indi-
vidual plants,
we
greatly increased.
shall find the
number
Any one who has
experience will appreciate the
of examples
had an extended
difficulties
which con-
stantly arise in determining even the " order " of an
^
Two
pairs of these plants
worthia plaiiifolia atrovirens with
may
be compared
—
viz.,
Ha-
with Echeveria aloidcs, and Haworthiot
Sempervivum
arenariiun.
MIMICRY. unknown Turn,
325
plant in the absence of flowers
species of PhyllantJnis, with
flat-
tened phyllodes,
as
PJiyllantJuis
structure
in
a
similar
fruit.
and
again to the
for instance,
compare one of the
or
EiipJiorbiacece,
of
species
Here,
family- iPoIygonacccv).
with
falcata} the
a
Buckwheat
an unusual form, a
in
striking mimetic resemblance will be encountered.
Or,
if
we have only
flowers or repcns,
fruit,
young
condition, without
one of the Onagracea;, we shall at once be
struck with
of an
the
of such a floating plant ^s Jussicsa
its
resemblance to a similar condition
Euphorbiaceous plant {PJiyllantJms
and, at the
same
time, with
fliiitans),
such a cryptogam as
In our figures of these three
Salvinia rohindifolia.
plants the resemblance
is
plants themselves
6^).
(fig.
less
striking than in the
All of them
the water, under similar conditions,
float
on
in different parts
the world.
•of
Dr. in
{S.
Berthold
Seemann speaks
of having seen,
Sandwich Islands, a variety of Solanum Nelsoni) which looked for all the world like a
the
well-known Buettneraceous plant of
New
Holland
{Tlwinasia solanacea), "the resemblance between the
two widely-separated plants being quite as that pointed out
^ •*
in
as striking
Bates's " Naturalist
" Botanical Register," pi. 373. Miihle7ibeckiaplatycladiuin, " Botanical i\Iagazine,"
on the
pi.
5,382.
FREAKS OF PLANT
326
LIFE.
Amazons," between a certain moth and a humming bird.
The circumstance has
also
been alluded to many-
times that one of our highest botanical authorities of his
day figured a
species of
Fig. 67.- -Young plants of {c)
flowers or
us
fruit,
how many
(
Hooker's "
Balfour's " Class
Book
On
7'
Fahr.,
another
the flower had risen
extraordinary increase of
If this determination
-'
3'.
from
i° The Hamburg
the temperature of the house was 70°
and the flowers found to
the tuberose
the flowers of a gourd
flowers of Victoria regia were
when
air.
is
Miscellany,"
an accurate one iii.,
of Botany," p. 519.
p. 186.
TEMPERA TURE. it
38 r
becomes almost inexplicable, and should
some
receive
at least
when compared
corroboration, especially
with the results of an examination of the flowers of NyuipJicca stcllata, another water-lily, in
which the
maximum
Fahr.
elevation
was
little
over
1°
the flowering heads of composite plants
Of we have
accounts of but two, the capitulum of the cottonthistle {Onopordiini acanthiuui), in
Fahr.
is
recorded, and in a
One
temperature
rose to
result of the great stimulus
has recently received,
electrical science
i^ 5'
number of flower-buds
of AntJiciiiis chrysolcnca, the 2° 4' Fahr.
which about
which
may be
it
hoped, will be an extensive series of observations, with delicate appliances, to determine the variations
number
of temperature at different periods in a large
of plants.
Chemical change takes place so rapidly fleshy fungi that
we should have been
in the
quite prepared
to find that under certain conditions an appreciable
elevation of temperature has been ascertained.
seems
temperature
has
been
observed,
changes have been recorded. Lycoperdon,
warmer
to
when the
decomposition. cluster
It
to us surprising rather that so small a rise in
of
than
that
such
The
larger species of
quite mature, will
become sensibly
hand when they exhibit
The
Agaricus
finger thrust inelleiis
will
evidence of increase of temperature.
signs
of
into a decaying
obtain
decided
In these cases
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
382
it
will
be the necessary accompaniment of decompo-
sition.
Dutrochet examined growing fungi of
and found
elevation of temperature,
in all a slight
none so much as one degree, and
but
in
one
fifth
five species,
in
some not
Probably the most favourable
of a degree.
period was not selected, at least the subject requires
McNab
Dr.
further investigation his observations
instance the rise was not so
been expected, although
in
determined by Dutrochet.
posed
that
so
has also recorded
on Lycoperdon gigantaiin, but
large
a
much
as
in this
would have
excess of the amount It
can hardly be sup-
mass,
undergoing
rapid
chemical change, does not exceed about one degree per cent, in
rise of
temperature.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE
CHAPTER
383
XVIII.
LUAIINOSITV.
The phenomena
of
"
luminosity
in
"
plants
are
evidently variable in their causes, as predicated
We
the variability of the results.
examples
together
of
from
manifestations
these
by
have brought
flowering and cryptogamic plants, associated some-
what
in
accordance with their apparent relationship,
but without any effort at explanation. strong presumption that
There
some of the supposed
of flashes of light from bright coloured flowers,
be explained for
group
themselves
The
thus
:
different facts
— Flowers
on sultry evenings
electrical flashes of light
which readily takes under
which,
and
fungi
certain
which
imperfect, or
"
are
fire
;
roots,
conditions either
mycelium
"
or
are
luminous
condition, or
seem
exhibiting
becoming surrounded by the vapour of oil,
may
Others can be accounted
optically.
by no such hypothesis.
to
is
cases,
;
plants
essential
rhizomes,
luminous
;
in
their
when
fully
matured.
The
luminosity of flowers, under certain conditions,
FREAKS OF PLANT
384
many
has
times been affirmed, by different and inde-
pendent observers, and yet
still
earliest instance
who
that of the daughter of Linnaeus,
a " lightning-like of
remains the subject
The
of some doubt and uncertainty. is
LIFE.
the
phosphorescence
nasturtium
during
a
"
observed
the flowers
in
tempestuous
sultry
Another instance was recorded
night.
in
1843,
when Mr. Dowden mentioned a luminous appearance in the double variety of the
common
marigold.
This
circumstance was noticed on the 4th August, 1842, at 8 o'clock p.m., after a
week of very dry weather.
Four persons observed the phenomenon.
By
off the declining day-light, a gold-coloured
lambent
appeared to play from petal to petal of the
light
flowers, so
as to
corona around the tion
shading
grew
•examined
make disc.
a more or less interrupted It
seemed
in
darkness.^
Dr.
contributor says, " I
quently, and have looked for
summer on
;
it
was not
such exhibitions.-
have observed it
it
fre-
on each succeeding
more especially poppy {Papaver pilosum), in my garden
at Mosely, in Worcestershire."^
Many
and another instance was recorded:
'
emana-
this
the double marigold, and
the hairy red
3
if
Edwin Lankester was
strongly in favour of the verity of
Another
as
less vivid as the light declined
years
"We
after,
witnessed
" Proceedings of the British Association for 1843." ^ Ibid. "Gardener's Chronicle," 1843, P- 691.
LUMINOSITY. (June
385
little before 9 o'clock, There are three scarlet
1858) this evening, a
10,
a very curious phenomenon.
verbenas, each about nine inches high, and about
a foot apart, planted
in front of the
greenhouse.
As
was standing a few yards from them and looking at them, my attention was arrested by faint flashes of light passing backwards and forwards from one I
plant to the other.
I
immediately called the gar-
dener and several members of
my
family,
who
all
witnessed the extraordinary sight, which lasted for
about a quarter of an hour, gradually becoming fainter,
a
till
at last
it
ceased altogether.
smoky appearance
after each flash,
particularly remarked.
was very with
There was
which we
The ground under
all
the plants
was sultry and seemed charged The flashes had the exact appear-
dry, the air
electricity.
ance of summer lightning in miniature. the
first
time
I
This was had seen anything of the kind, and
having never heard of such appearances, hardly believe
my
eyes.
I
Afterwards, however,
could
when
the day had been hot and the ground was dry, the
same phenomenon was constantly observed at about sunset, and equally on the scarlet geraniums and verbenas. In 1859 it was again seen. On Sunday evening, July loth of that year, my children came running in to say that the " lightning " was again playing on the flowers. We all saw it, and again, on July nth,
I
thought that the flashes of light were 2 c
FREAKS OF PLANT
386
brighter than
had ever seen them
I
weather was very
The so
The
the reputation of being
also
a similar manner.
It
has been observed,
said, of a sultry evening, after thunder, to
is
it
in
before.
sultry."^
tuberose has
luminous
LIFE.
dart small sparks
in
abundance from such of
flowers as were fading.^ like reputation,
The
sunflower has also a
and so has the martagon
evening primrose.
its
lily
Altogether a number of
and the difl"erent
have been seen to present a similar phe-
plants
nomenon, and the
facts are attested
by a long
list
of different individuals.
Two
to this class of luminosity illusion,
former
propounded with respect
theories have been ;
one that
the other that the light
it is
it
an optical
is
is electric.
For the
contended that bright flowers are always
the subjects, and this exhibition takes place in the evening.
Goethe:
"
On behalf of this view, it is quoted from On the 19th June, 1799, late in the evening,
the twilight was passing into a clear night, as
when
was walking up and down with a friend in the we remarked very plainly about the flowers of the oriental poppy, which were distinguishable above everything else by their brilliant red, someI
garden,
thing like flame.
We
placed ourselves before the
'
" Gardener's Chronicle," July 16, 1859,
'
"Science Gossip," 1871, p.
122.
p.
604.
LUMINOSITY. plant and looked steadfastly at
the flash again,
passing to look at
be an optical
illusion,
was merely the
at pleasure.
view
it is
A second
On
luminous appearances are of the the
When
daughter
of'
the daughter of
evening approached the flowers of little
flame was kindled
any way injuring them.
The experiment
Dictaviniis albus with a light, a in
of
also
Linnaeus with the dittany.
without
has been dry and
air
electricity.
class of
one
behalf of the elec-
urged that the occurrences have been
type of an experience Linnaeus
flash of
spectral representation of the
observed at times when the
charged with
appeared to
It
and that the apparent
blossoms of a blue-green." trical
passing and re-
in
and we could then
obliquely,
phenomenon
repeat the
light
it
but could not see
it,
we chanced
till
387
was afterwards frequently repeated, but it never succeeded and whilst some scientific men regarded the ;
whole as a faulty observation, or simply a delusion, others endeavoured to explain theses.
One
of
them
it
on various hypo-
especially which
tried
to
account for the phenomenon by assuming that the plant developed hydrogen found present,
when
this hypothesis
much
favour.
At
has become untenable,
the inflammability of the plant
is
mentioned more as
a curiosum, and accounted for by the presence of etheric oil in the flowers. visiting a
garden
in
Being
in
the habit of
which strong healthy plants of 2 C 2
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. Dictamnus albus were
cultivated,
often repeated
I
the experiment, but always without success, and I
already began to doubt the correctness of the observation
made by
daughter of Linnaeus, when,
the
during the dry and hot summer of 1857 I repeated the experiment once more, fancying that the warm weather might possibly have exercised a more than I held a lighted ordinary effect upon the plant. match close to an open flower, but again without result
;
in bringing,
however, the match close to some
approached a nearly faded one, and
other blossoms,
it
suddenly was
seen
a reddish,
shooting flame, which
and did not
left
crackling,
strongly
a powerful aromatic smell,
Since then
injure the peduncle.
I
have
repeated the experiment during several seasons, and
even during wet cold summers
;
ceeded, thus clearly proving that
by the
state of the weather.
it
has always suc-
it
is
not influenced
In doing so
I
observed
the following results, which fully explain the pheno-
menon.
On
the pedicels and peduncles are a
number
of minute reddish brown glands, secreting etheric
These glands
are
flowers begin to
but
little
open, and
oil.
developed when the they are fully grown
shortly after the blossoms begin to fade, shrivelling
up when the
fruit
For
begins to form.
the experiment can succeed only at period
when
the flowers are fading.
uninjured, being too green to take
this
that
The
fire,
reason limited
radius
is
and because
LUMIXOSITY.
389
the flame runs along almost as quick as lightning,
becoming extinguished
and diffusing a
at the top,
powerful incense-like smell. Possibly some of the "burning bushes" of oriental
Vague
story might have a similar explanation.
ideas
of the existence of luminous plants in India and the
neighbouring countries
still float
of the old Hindoos and Greeks. •in
about as
One
Afghanistan, to the north of Nahvo,
tain called Sufed
Koh,
in
the days
in
of these
that
is
a moun-
is
which the natives believe
gold and silver to exist, and in which, they say, in the spring
a bush which at night, from a distance,
is
appears on
fire,
but on approaching
it
the delusion
In 1S45 the natives of Simla were
vanishes.
filled
with a rumour that the mountains near Syree were illuminated nightly by
some magical
been
this
suggested
that
It
has
might be a species of
abounds
Dictammis, which
herb.
near
Gungotree
and
Jumnotree.
A •of
third class of
examples of luminosity consists
those mythic and uncertain legends of roots which
can only be recorded and not explained, possibly
many says
"
cases
There
due only to decomposition. is
is
like to that of flame,
'
Dr.
Josephus
a certain place called Baaras, which
produces a root of the same colour
in
Hahn
in
name with
itself; its
and towards evening
"Journal of Botany," 1863.
it
FREAKS OF PLANT
390
LIFE.
sends out a certain ray like lightning
taken by such as would do
The only virtue
hands." ^
it,
not easily
it is
;
but recedes from their
this root possesses is its sup-
posed power in the expulsion of demons.
The
Ooraghum
the
said to possess the peculiar property of re-
is
gaining
its
phosphorescent appearance when a dried
fragment of in the
a plant from
root-stock of
jungles
it
was submitted
dark with
all
to moisture, "
gleaming
the vividness of the glow-worm,
or the electric scolopendra, after having been moist-
ened with a wet cloth applied to
its
surface for an
hour or two, and did not seem to lose the property by use,
becoming
lustreless
when
again whenever moistened."
dry,
and lighting up
-
known
This, or a similar plant has long been
to the
Brahmins under the name of Jyotismati, and said
to
be produced by a species of Cardiospernmin. Sanscrit authorities say that
it
found
is
Himalayas
in the
and Major Madden found upon enquiry
;
Almora that there was a luminous plant well known there as Jyotismati or Jwalla-mat, which names imply the possession of light or fire. The Almora plant at
proved to be the roots of the fragrant khus-khus grass, of
which only one
luminous at night
Wars
in
in a
hundred
is
the rainy season.
of the Jews,"
book
said to be
The
*
*'
3
"Proc. Royal Asiatic Society," April, 1845.
vii.,
cap.
vi.
roots
LUMINOSITY. of Other grasses
391
reputed to possess the same
are
properties.
we except
If
the milky juice or sap of two or three
Euphorbia phosphorea, said to be
species, such as
Uiminous, this catalogue will exhaust the principal
recorded cases of luminosity in flowering plants
our
;
which consists of luminous fungi, furnishes numerous well authenticated instances, which might last class,
be placed
in
two
classes, of
which one would include
mycelium, or the root-like filaments of fungi
in
an
imperfect state, and the other perfect or complete
Schoolboys nearly half a century ago had a
fungi.
strong belief in " touchwood lingers.
still
"
and perhaps the
belief
This "touchwood," consisted of very
rotten wood, usually from the heart of a tree, deeply
penetrated with the mycelium of fungi, and luminous in the dark.
We
remember many
which was carried
in
a cherished morsel
the pocket, for nocturnal exhi-
bition in the dormitory, until " the light of other days
had
faded," which followed after a few days.
One
of
the most extraordinary manifestations of this class of fungi
is
recorded by the Rev. M.
quantity of
J.
Berkeley.
wood had been purchased
in
"
A
a neigh-
bouring parish, which was dragged up a very steep hill to
its
larch,
or spruce,
feet
destination.
long and
friends
it
a
happened
is
Amongst them was
a log of
not quite certain which,
foot in diameter.
to pass
up the
24
Some young
hill at night,
and
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
392
were surprised to
the
find
road
with
scattered
luminous patches, which, when more closely examined, proved to be portions of bark, or
wood.
little
fragments of
Following the track they came to a blaze of
white light which was perfectly surprising
mination
;
on exa-
appeared that the whole of the inside of
it
the bark of the log was covered with a white byssoid
mycelium of a peculiarly strong
smell,
but unfor-
tunately in such a state that the perfect form could
This was luminous, but the
not be ascertained.
was by no means so bright as in those parts of the wood where the spawn had penetrated more deeply, and where it was so intense that the roughest treatment scarcely seemed to check it. If any attempt was made to rub off the luminous matter it only shone the more brightly, and when wrapped up light
in five folds of all
the folds on
paper the light penetrated through either side as brightly
specimen was exposed
;
as
if
the
when, again, the specimens
pocket when opened was a mass of light. The luminosity had now been going on for three days. Unfortunately we did not
were placed
see
it
in the pocket, the
ourselves
till
the
third day,
when
it
had,
possibly from a change in the state of electricity, been
somewhat impaired, but it was still most interesting, and we have merely recorded what we saw ourselves. It was almost possible to read the time on the face of a watch, even in
its
less
luminous condition.
We
LUMINOSITY. do not
for
a
moment suppose
tions
which
Observers as
occurrence of climatic condi-
a
one
certainly
is
we have been
for fifty years,
witness
it
luminous
wood, which
us
rarity.
It
wood
lot to
Professor
specimens of
however,
had,
the
of
parts
though
sent
luminosity before they arrived. the
great
of fungi in their native
before,
once
Babington
of
has never fallen to our
similar case
Churchill
that
is
necessary for the production of the pheno-
is
menon, haunts
mycelium
that the
rather inclined to be-
essentially luminous, but are lieve that a peculiar
393
their
lost
should be observed
which
most
were
luminous were not only deeply penetrated by the
more
the
of
parts
delicate
bable, in
the
matter."
therefore,
case
as
that
well
this
as
the
were
mycelium, but
those which were most decomposed. fact
is
It
an
is
pro-
element
presence of
fungoid
^
Another incomplete fungus growth
is
that called
RJiizonwrpJia stibterninca, which extends underneath
the soil in long strings in the neighbourhood of old •tree
stumps, those of oak especially, which are be-
coming
rotten,
and upon these
These are
branches.
it
is
fixed
by
its
cylindrical, very flexible, branch-
ing and clothed with a hard bark, encrusting and fragile, at
first
*
smooth and brown, becoming
"Gardener's Chronicle," 1872,
p. 1,258.
later
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
394
The
very rough and black. whitish, afterwards of a colour,
formed of long
is
phenomena made the subject of
interior tissue, at first
more or
deep brown
less
parallel
filaments.
The
of luminosity in these fungi have been
"
On
investigation
the evening of the day
specimens," he writes,
22° C,
I
received the
the temperature being about
young branches brightened with an
the
all
"
by M. Tulasne.
when
uniform phosphoric light the whole of their length
;
was the same with the surface of some of the older branches, the greater number of which were it
still
some
brilliant in
parts,
and only on
their surface.
and lacerated many of these twigs, but their The next evening, internal substance remained dull. I split
on the contrary,
substance having been exposed
this
to contact with the
same brightness longed
air,
exhibited at
friction of the
brightness and dried
morphae been able
And in
surface the
again
them
to a certain degree, but
:
"
By
any phosphorescent
preserving these Rhizo-
an adequate state of humidity,
for
many
Pro-
luminous surfaces reduced the
did not leave on the fingers matter."!
its
as the bark of the branches.
I
have
evenings to renew the examina-
tion of their phosphorescence
;
the
commencement
of dcssication, long before they really perish, deprives
1
" Tulasne sur la Phosphorescence," " Ann. des Sci. Nat."
(1848), vol.
ix., p.
340, &c.
LUMINOSITY. them of the Humboldt,
is
well
known
luminosity
to miners,
as well as others, have written of
glowing terms.
and it
in
names have been given some of which have occurred
to
Different
different varieties, all
The
faculty of giving light."
of this kind of fungus
almost
395
in
which the lower
parts of the world of
vegetable productions are known.
The second group
of luminous
fungi
those
are
exhibited by perfect and properly-developed species.
These
are,
most
the
for
spores growing habitually on
remarkable
that
fact,
wood
although
genus
referred
and
all
the
to
which the stem
{Pleiirohis) in
obsolete,
One
are
;
many
with coloured spores grow on wood,
luminous species
with white
agarics
part,
is
it
is
a
other kinds
the
known
same subeccentric, or
and the spores white.
known exotic species {Agaricus made known by Mr. Gardner in
of the earliest
Gardncri) was
first
"One dark
1840.
night about
the beginning of
December, while passing along the
of the
streets
Villa de Natividate, Goyaz, Brazil, I observed
some
boys amusing themselves with some luminous object
which
I
fire-fly
;
at
first
but,
supposed to be a kind of large
on making inquiry,
I
found
it
to be
a beautiful phosphorescent species of Agaricus, and
was told that
it
grew abundantly
in the neighbour-
hood on the decaying fronds of a dwarf palm.
The
whole plant gives out at night a bright phosphorescent
FREAKS OF PLANT
396
light,
somewhat
fire-flies,
LIFE.
similar to that emitted
by the
From
having a pale greenish hue.
cumstance, and from growing on a palm,
by the inhabitants
'
Flor de Coco.'
it
larger
this cir-
called
is
"
Dr. Cuthbert Collingwood has given his experience of the same, or a closely-allied species, in Borneo. "
The
night being dark, the fungi could be very dis-
though not
tinctly seen,
at
wnth a soft pale greenish of
much more
any great distance, shining Here and there spots
light.
intense light were visible, and these
proved to be very young and minute specimens.
The older specimens may more
properly be described
as possessing a greenish luminous glow like the glow of the electric discharge, which, however, was quite sufficient
to
define
its
shape, and
examined, the chief details of
The luminosity
ance.
hand, and did
its
when
did not impart itself to the
not appear to be affected
separation from the root on which
not for some hours.
closely
form and appear-
I
mycelium of this fungus
think is
it
it
by the
grew, at least
probable that the
also luminous, for,
upon
turning up the ground in search of small luminous
worms, minute spots of
light
were observed which
could not be referred to any particular object, or
body, when brought to the light and examined, and
were probably due to some minute portions of
'
Hooker's "Journal of Botany," 1840,
ii.,
p. 426.
its
LUMINOSITY. mycelium."!
Mr.
saw the jungle
Hugh Low
all
in a blaze
397
has affirmed that "he of
light,
by which he
could see to read, as some years ago he was riding
by the jungle road, and luminosity was produced by an agaric." across the island
that this
Similar experiences are furnished from Australia, where several species of luminous agarics have been found. Drummond, writing from the Swan River-
speaks of two species growing parasitically on the
stumps of
trees,
with nothing particular
in
their
appearance by day, but by night emitting a most curious light, such as he had never seen described
any book. The first species was about two inches and was growing in clusters on the stump of a Banksia tree. " The stump was at the time surrounded by water, when I happened to be passing on a dark night, and was surprised to see what in
across,
appeared to be a light
in
such a spot.
fungus was laid on a newspaper a phosphorescent
round
it,
and
it
light,
it
When
this
emitted by night
enabling us to read the words
continued to do so for several nights
with gradually decreasing intensity as the plant dried up."
Subsequently he found a second species, six-
teen
inches
in
weighing about
'
^
'•'
diameter, five
and
pounds.
"
a
foot
in
height,
This specimen was
Journal of Linntean Society," vol. x., p. 469. Hooker's " Journal of Botany," April, 1842.
FREAKS OF PLANT
398
LIFE.
hung up
inside the
dry, and,
on passing through the apartment
dark,
observed
I
chimney of our sitting-room to the
in the
giving out a most
fungus
remarkable Hght, similar to that described above
No
light
is
so white as this, at least none that
The luminous property
have ever seen.
though gradually diminishing,
when
it
natives and
fungus when emitting light for
the
continued,
for four or five nights,
fire
;
showed them this room was dark,
the
was very low and the candles extin-
guished, and the poor creatures cried out
name for The agaric
their
is
a
spirit,
of the
and seemed
Chinga,'
'
afraid of
it."
{Agaricus olearius)
olive-tree
found in the south of Europe, and
has been
subjected to an exhaustive examination.!
very yellow,
itself
reflects
and remains endowed with whilst
it
We
ceased on the plant becoming dry.
some of the
called
I
of opinion that
life,
it
and remains
was
is
of
remarkable faculty
this
grows, or at least while
serve an active
It
a strong brilliant light,
it
appears to pre-
fresh.
Tulasne was
really phosphorescent of
itself,
and not indebted to any foreign production for the Hght it emits. It is unnecessary to multiply examples, in
which the phenomena arc uniform
racter.
There
is
in
their cha-
not the slightest ground for sup-
posing that any hallucination, or optical
'
Tulasne, "Annales des Sci. Nat." (1848),
ix., p.
illusion,
340.
LUMINOSITY.
399
can be pleaded here, the manifestations being so decided, so numerous, so well authenticated, and so
One
widely distributed.
of the most recent additions
has been a small species from the several species have
now been
in Manilla,
Dr.
Hooker
Himalayas
;
;
them
;
Gaudichaud found
and Rumphius another
believes
Islands
recorded from different
parts of the Australian colonies
one
Andaman
in
Amboyna.
to exist in the
Sikkim
and we have already mentioned
their
occurrence in Brazil and the Indian Archipelago.
We
might add to these the species of Polyporus,
mentioned by Mr. Worthington Smith, such as Polyporus annosus, found light of
their
which was
in
the Cardiff coal-mines, the
sufficient for the
hands by," and could be detected
men
to " see
at a distance
twenty yards. Polypoms sulfurcus, which the same observer has seen exhibiting the phenomenon.^ Perhaps, also, some others, of which the records arc
of
uncertain, as Corticiinn
cccnileuin,
and the unusual
circumstance of a luminous myxogaster, recorded
by the Rev. M.
J.
Berkeley,
in
the
"
Gardener's
Chronicle."
From
these examples
it
will
be clear that fungi
exhibit luminous properties, both in their imperfect
and perfect conditions.
1
That the
light
is
of that
See also " Fungi, their Nature, Uses," &c., by M. C. Cooke,
p. 105.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
400
character which
peculiar
is
observed
in
combustion of phosphorus, and from blance
it
the slow
this
has been termed phosphorescent.
be that some
hypercritical
resemIt
may
has disputed
quibbler
publicly the applicability of the term "phosphores-
cence
" to
that "
the light emitted by fungi, on the ground no phosphorus has been detected." Perhaps
his student-life
has forgotten
phorescence
simply
"
"
was passed so much abroad that he of his mother tongue. " Phos-
much
no presence of phosphorus, but
imiplies
luminous, or shining with a faint
light,
un-
accompanied by sensible heat," hence no apology is necessary for the use of a perfectly legitimate term with
general and acknowledged interpretation.
its
The phenomena
of light and heat in plants have
not as yet received subject demands.
question
whether
all
As the
the investigation which the to the
latter, it
luminosity
is
it
observed in a few, or whether
an
time.
it
is
inherent
has only been
quality of certain species, since
tion,
becomes a
an
electric condi-
depending largely on the atmosphere at the
The
permit us to
facts
at
present
suggest any theory,
ascertained all
take note of the circumstances, and future for their elucidation.
do not
we can do trust
to
is
to
the
FREAKS OF PLANT
CHAPTER
LIFE.
401
XIX.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
Many
plants were in former times, and especially in
superstitious eras,
and amongst imaginative people,
invested with a mystical importance, and often held in
We
veneration as sacred.
them
as
deserve
doubted
"
mystic," though
denomination
whether
have preferred to class
sometimes they better " sacred."
as
were
flowers
although no one has doubted
ever their
Some
have
worshipped,
having been
regarded as symbols, and introduced as such
Of our own customs
religious ceremonies.
some which may be
No
attributed to a similar origin.
one would dispute that the use of evergreens
church decorations were symbolic of everlasting
That white
in
life.
flowers at weddings were to be held as
That the planting of the yev/
types of purity.
churchyards had a symbolic still
in
there are
intent.
In
fact,
that
in
we
have our mystic plants.
In oriental countries flowers have a deeper meaning,
and a more emphatic language, than with
Imagination
may
the love of flowers these people.
run is
Sir
riot in
us.
Persia and India, but
amongst Birdwood has George given an beautifully exemplified
2
D
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
402
when,
illustration
Bombay/ he
" Presently,
flowing- robe of blue, hat,
'
black,
glossy,
would saunter
in,
and on
his
the fleece
mat and
head
Persian, in
his sheepskin
of
kar-kul,*
and stand and meditate over every if
was
at last the vision
flower he
a true
curled,
flower he saw, and always as
when
Garden,
in writing of the Victoria
says,
And
half in vision.
fulfilled,
and the ideal
was seeking found, he would spread
his
until the setting of the sun,
and
sit
before
then pray before
it
and
it,
fold
up
his
mat again and
go home.
And
the next night, and night
night, until
that
particular flower faded away, he
would return
to
guitar or lute there,
sherbet,
his friends in ever-
and sit and sing and play the before it, and they would altogether
increasing troops to
pray
and bring
it,
and
it,
after prayer still sit before
it,
sipping
and talking the most hilarious and shocking and so again and
scandal, late into the moonlight
;
again every evening until the flower died. times, by way of a grand
would suddenly it
after
rise
finale,
the whole
Somecompany
before the flower, and serenade
together, with an ode from Hafiz, and depart."
In the Hindu religion bright-coloured or fragrant flowers take a prominent place as offerings to the
gods, whilst the leaves or flowers of other plants are
held sacred for special reasons, either historical, or
Sir
G. C.
M.
Birdwood,
in "
Athenteum
."'
MYSTIC PLANTS.
resemblances to mystical objects.
for their fancied
The
403
Trimurti, or representative of the Trinity, has
two plants dedicated to marmelos)
and
Both these
trees
may
shamrock,
The India,
the
it,
crataeva
have
the
bael
trifoliate leaves,
and a kind of
basil
aromatic
plant,
and worshipped
story, this hero
and, like the
is
is
said to
popular
all
over
{Ocymu7n sanctum)
sacred to him as well as to Vishnu.
attention,
religiosd)}
be held to represent the Trinity.
national legend of Krishna
white-flowered
{.^gle
tree
{CratcBva
daily.^
This
is
receiving
is
also a
special
According to the
have gambolled with the
milkmaids of Brindabun under the kadamba tree {Nauclea
cadamba),
and
the
yellow
ball-shaped
flowers are held to be particularly sacred to him. is
held to be the holiest flower in India, and
is
It
exten-
sively imitated in the native jewellery ornaments.
The same hero
reported to have fascinated the
is
milkmaids by playing on bakula tree {Mirimsops fragrant flowers are to Siva.
The
his celebrated flute
elengi),
now
parejati
under a
and the small yellow
dedicated to him as well as
{Erythrina indicd)
may
regarded as a mystical, though not a sacred,
1
Sir -
be
tree.
See also on this subject, " The Industrial Arts of India," by M. Birdwood, C.S.I. (1880), p. 85, &c.
G.
C
The Malays strew
this plant with reverence
of their dead
2
D
2
over the graves
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
404
This flower was supposed to bloom Indra, in Heaven,
garden of
in the
and the two wives of Krishna are
said to have quarrelled for the exclusive possession
of this flower, which their husband had stolen from the celestial garden. it
Since
it
was stolen by Krishna
has been under a curse, and dwells upon the earth
as one of the least of the flowers,
This accounts for
for worship.
and
its
never used
is
absence from the
long catalogue of sacred flowers. In the love, the
his
Hindu mythology, Kamadeva analogue of Cupid, and
bow and
The myth
arrows.
arrows were tipped with
the god of
alleges that these
five flowers, all
of which are
They
therefore held sacred to this god.
champa
is
represented with
is
are (i) the
{MicJiclia cJiajnpacd), a tulip-shaped yellow
magnolia
flower, with a strong aromatic smell, of the
family, supposed
by some
into India from China
fcra Indicd)
:
(3)
:
(2)
to
the
have been introduced
mango
flower {Maugi-
the bulla {Pavonia odorata), a sweet-
scented flower of the mallow family
:
(4)
of the clearing-nut {Stiyc/nws potatonivi) the
nagkesur
{Alcsna ferrcd), with
the flower :
and
flowers
(5)
white
and yellow filaments inside the corolla, having an odour resembling that of the wild briar. externally,
Some flower,
other authorities
exclude
the
clearing -nut
and substitute that of the bela {Jasniimim
savibac), with beautifully fragrant white flowers.
screw pine {Pandaiius odoralissiintis)
is
also, for
The some
MYSTIC PLANTS. reason, sacred flowers
pollen
most profuse, and has a
is
odour.
The
Kamadeva.
to
405
It
collected,
is
and sold
of the peculiar
faint
the bazaars,
at
being scattered over the bride at marriage cereThis custom seems partly to prevail on
monies.
account of the odour, and partly on account of mystic relationship to the god of love.
Keora
flowers
its
Attar of
and Keora water are favourite Indian
perfumes.
The
brilliant
to
Siva,
asoca
whom
to
flower.3 are offered,
{ChrysantJieviuvi
alluded
to,
{Saraca
of orange-red
large clusters
also
other and
such as the
Indiciini),
the
with
Indica),
floAvers,
"
is
its
dedicated
mostly yellow
chandra malika
cadamba,
"
already
and the bakula, as well as the superb
crimson flowers of the bandhuca {Ixora bajid/mca),
and the fragrant jasmines {Jasmimim sambac and JasviiniLui luidulatuin), the
gunda {Gardenia fioridd)^
oleander {Nerinin odonini), and some others.
be readily imagined that flowers, remarkable
It
can
for their
beauty, bright colouring, or fragrance, would present
themselves to the minds of an oriental people as fitting
gods.
tributes
Such
as
to be laid
on the shrines of
are usually connected in
some manner with the
tory of the mythical being to
whom
some mystical resemblance
his-
they are sacred,
or are supposed to retain in their flowers, leaves,
their
do not conform to these features
to
fruits,
or
well-known
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
4o6
symbols of the attributes of the god to
whom
they
are dedicated.
To
we
avoid tedium
shall
omit reference to
all
the
remaining flowers, which are dedicated to members
Hindu pantheon, with the exception
of the
water
lilies,
and these both
ancient
in
of the
India and
Egypt occupied a prominent place in mythology. The plants themselves were, in all probability, common to both countries nearly at the same time, and if we have come to the conclusion that the preeminence was given to one kind in India and to ancient
another in Egypt, this resulted probably from local
The
circumstances and local traditions.
between
relationship
the two
has
intimate
necessitated
a
commencing with the The lotos Egyptian lotos to avoid repetition. {NymplicBo), writes Sir G. Wilkinson, was the favourite
on
But
it
is
singular that,
so often represented, no instance
is
monuments of
Indian
lotos,
Nelumbium, though the Roman Egyptian
sculp-
occurs
the
tures point
placing stated
is
both,
wreaths and chaplets.
for
while the lotos
or
of
history
parallel
it
it
'
out as a peculiar plant of Egypt,
about the figure of the god Nile
by Latin
the country.^
vol.
the
writers to have been
The
distinction
p. 56.
and
common
it
in
between these two
Wilkinson's " Popular Account of Ancient i.,
;
Egyptians,"
MYSTIC PLANTS.
407
sacred plants will be better understood by a brief
general description of both, so liable to confusion by
name
applying the
The
of lotos in each instance.
sacred lotos of the Nile figures conspicuously
on the monuments, enters largely into the decoration,
and seems to have been interwoven with the This lotos
religious faith of the ancient Egyptians. is
mentioned by the old writers as an herbaceous
plant of aquatic habits, and from their combined description
intended.
it is
"
evident that
When
are inundated, there lilies
grow
which the Egyptians
so-called, is
grows chiefly
The
inundated.
very double flower. the seed-vessel,
flower
flowers open,
call lotos."
is
It is
lily is
^
when
"
The
lotos
the country
white, the petals are
and numerous, as of a the sun sets they cover
as soon
as the sun rises the
and appear above the water
repeated until the seed vessel
fall off.
of water
and the plains
water numbers of
in the
lily,
When
and
full,
is
in the plains
narrow, as those of the
is
some kind
the river
ripe
is
;
and
this
and the petals
said that in the Euphrates both the
seed-vessel and the petals sink
from the evening
down
into the water
until midnight, to a great depth, so
hand cannot reach them at daybreak they emerge, and as the day comes on they rise above the water; at sunrise the flowers open, and when fully. that the
;
1
Herodotus.
FREAKS OF PLANT
4oS
expanded they
rise
up
still
LIFE.
higher,
and present the
appearance of a very double flower."^ "The flower is small and white like the lily, which is said to
expand
at sunrise,
and to close
said that the seed-vessel
and that
water,
at sunrise
is it
It is also
at sunset.
then entirely hid in the
emerges again." =
the inundating waters of the Nile
retire, it
"When
comes up
with the stem like the Egyptian bean, with the petals crowded thick and close, only shorter and narrower.
There
is
a further circumstance related concerning-
plant of a very remarkable nature, that the
this
poppy-like flowers close up with the setting sun, the petals entirely covering the seed vessel
;
but at sun-
they open again, and so on, till they become ripe, and the blossom, which is white, falls off."^ "They grow in the lakes in the neighbourhood of Alex-
•rise
andria.
I
know
that in that fine city they have a
crown called Antinoean, made of the plant which is there named lotos, which plant grows in the lakes
summer; and there are two colours one of them is the colour of a rose, of which heat of
in the
of
it
:
the Antinoean crown
and has a blue
lotinos,
we
is
made, the other
flower."*
From
is
called
the foregoing
arrive at the following particulars of the lotos.
That
it
is
an aquatic plant, with double poppy-like
>
Theophrastus.
^
Dioscorides.
'
Pliny.
*
Athenseus.
MYSTIC PLANTS. flowers,
expanding
the
in
409
morning and closing
at
night Those
virgin
lilies all
the night
Bathing their beauties
That they may
When
Fig. 84.
rise
more
in the lake,
fresh
their beloved sun's
and bright
awake.
— Egyptian Lotus {NymphcBa
stellatd).
Either white, blue, or rose-coloured, for there are the latter
two
author.
varieties, as
expressly mentioned by one
All these features are quite consistent with
the presumption that the lotos was of a kindred to
FREAKS OF PLANT
4IO
own white water lily, which
our
by what
is
seed-vessel
and
it is
recorded of the is
is
LIFE.
further strengthened
fruit.
"
The
size of the
equal to that of the largest poppy head,
divided by separations in the same
manner
as the seed-vessel of the poppy, but the seed, like
is
more condensed.
millet, is
which
The Egyptians and when
lay these seed-vessels in heaps to perish,
washed in the river, and the seed taken out and dried, and is afterwards made In the prininto loaves, baked, and used for food,"^ they are rotten, the mass
is
The
cipal features, all the other authorities agree. fruit,
therefore, corresponds with that of a water
and, moreover,
it is
which was eaten. From these descriptions
more
as
common
in
the waters of that
Savigny returned from Egypt which corresponds closely
after the
home in
river.
When
French
in-
a blue Nymph(za,
habit to the conven-
common on Egyptian monuments.
tional lotos so
seems very probable that the lotos-flower, which
represented in the hands of guests at
is
evident,
was a species of Nyuiphcca, or water
vasion of 1798, he brought
It
it is
fully discussed elsewhere," that the sacred
lotos of the Nile lily,
lily,
said to possess a farinaceous root,
banquets
(fig.
85),
'
Theophrastus.
2
M.
C.
and those presented
Cooke on the " Lotus of the Ancients,"
Science Review,"
vol. x. (1871), p. 260.
Egyptian
as offerings to
in "
Popular
MYSTIC PLANTS. the deities, were
411
The manner
fragrant.
in
which
they are held strengthens this probabiUty, as there
is
no other reason why they should be brought into such close proximity to the nose. water
lily
Savigny's blue
{Nyniphcsa ccBnilea) has just the habit and
the narrow acute petals of the lotos on the
The white lotos was
ments.
which
is
common
of its kindred,
species,
has
a
called
evidently NynipJia^a
and Egypt.
liable to variation,
it is
red variety, which
have
to India
monulotus,
Like others
and there
is
a
some
distinct
Roxburgh
but
declared
that
he
could see no difference
between them except the colour
The
of the
flowers.
blue lotos of Sa-
vigny, which he called
NympJiaa
C(zrulea,stc:ras
Fig. 85.
— Lady with lotus flower,
from Theban tomb ( Wilkinson).
to be the NympJi(2a stel-
/«toof modern botanists. Messrs.
Hooker and Thomson
have pronounced the opinion that lily
of the
congener N.
Nile and lotus)
"
the blue w^ater
India are (like their white
specifically
the most
the same,
prominent difference to be found between them being the sweet scent of the African plant, and
more numerous
petals
and stamens."
blue lotos seems to be the most
usually
its
The
fragrant
common one
repre-
FREAKS OF PLANT
412
LIFE.
sented on the monuments, but the white one
is chiefly-
alluded to by ancient authors.
The
tamara, or lotos of India, was described by
ancient authors
Egyptian bean. tial
that there
is
under the name of kyamos, or These descriptions are so substannot the slightest doubt of the plant
being the Nelwnhium speciosum}
more
He
Nothing can be
explicit than the account given
says that "
it
produced
is
stagnant waters, the length of longest, four cubits, like the
smooth
the stem
is
byTheophrastus.
in
marshes and
the stem, at
and the thickness of a
jointless reed.
The
finger,
inner texture of
perforated throughout like a honeycomb,
and upon the top of
it is
a poppy-like seed-vessel, in
circumference and appearance like a wasp's nest.
each of the
in
the
cells there is a
bean projecting a
In little
above the surface of the seed-vessel, which usually contains about thirty of these beans or seeds. flower
The
twice the size of a poppy, of the colour of a
is
full-blown rose, and elevated above the water
;
about
each flower are produced large leaves, of the size of a Thessalian hat, having the same kind of stem as the flower- stem.
In each bean, when broken,
may be
seen the embryo plant, out of which the leaf grows.
So much
'
M.
C.
for the fruit.
The
root
is
thicker than the
Cooke on the " Lotos of the Ancients,"
Science Review,"
vol. x., p. 262,
in
"
Popular
MYSTIC PLANTS. thickest reed,
who
live
and
stem
cellular, like the
about the marshes eat
it
413
;
and those
as food, either raw,
These plants are produced spon-
boiled, or roasted.
taneously, but they are cultivated in beds," &c.
This plant has a sacred character amongst the Hindoos, and also
one time
China and Ceylon.
in
plentiful
Egypt, whence
in
It
was
has
it
at
now
upon the
The representations given of it monuments of ancient Egypt are far less
common
than those of the Nyinp/uva, equally with
totally vanished.
which
it is
to be found
on the monuments of India.
serves for the floating shell of Vishnu
of Brahma.
Sir
W.
Jones writes of
It
and the seat it,
that " the
Thibetans embellish their temples and altars with it and a native of Nepal made prostration before it on entering my study, where the fine plant and beautiful
;
flowers lay for examination."
Thunberg
affirms that
the Japanese regard the plant as pleasing
to
the
gods, the images of their idols being often represented sitting
or
on
its
large leaves.
holy mother,
flower of
it
in
is
generally represented
with
a
her hand, and few temples are without
some representation of
the plant.
plants are sculptured on the in India,
In China the Shing-moo,
Undoubtedly two
monuments and
paintings
but they are easily distinguished from each
other by their form.
and the other
is
The one
is
a lotus, or Nyjupkcsa,
the Nelunibium.
The former
is
dedicated to Soma, the latter to Lakshmi, the Indian
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
414
Venus, the goddess of beauty, and, as the most sacred flower,
may be
offered to all the gods.
The
sion to be arrived at from close investigation
Egypt was
the sacred lotos of
concluis,
that
the NympJicsa, whilst
was, and still is, the was the symbol of fertility in Egypt as in India, and the god Horus, the personification of the rising sun, was decorated with a wreath of its flowers and buds, and was sometimes figu-
the
sacred
of India
lotos
The
Nelunibiinn.
latter
as a lotus
springing from the
There are few plants
richer in association
ratively represented waters.^
than water
lilies.
Their flowers are yellow
in
the
ponds of Northern Europe, white or yellow in England, blue and fragrant in Persia and Cashmere, and red in Southern India.
The Egyptian
with rose, and that of India
lily
is
is
white, tinted
said to have been
was stained by the blood of Siva, wounded by the Hindoo Cupid Kamadeva. It is the latter that is alluded to in Lalla Rookh: similar,
till
it
As bards have seen him
in their
dreams
Down
the blue Ganges laughing glide
Upon
a rosy Lotos wreath.
From Egypt and India we pass to Greece and Rome, yet it is not our intention to linger here, as but
little
importance can be attached to the flowers
of Greek and
'
Roman
mythology.
"Gardener's Chronicle," July
They never i,
1876, p.
7.
held
MYSTIC PLANTS.
415
the same position as in the former countries, and the
majority of allusions are only such as relate to the
legendary origin of certain
Fig. illustrated
his
imare
86.
plants.
This
may
be
— Daffodil {^Narcissus pscudoiiarcissus).
by the
beautiful youth Narcissus,
who saw
and
became
reflected
in
a
fountain,
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
4i6
enamoured of
it,
but finding that he could not reach
His blood grew desperate, and killed himself. was changed into the flower which still bears his it,
The nymphs
name.
raised a pile to burn his body,
but only found a beautiful flower.^
Daphne caught,
fleeing
from Apollo, and
fearful of
being
implored the assistance of the gods,
changed her into a
Apollo crowned
laurel.
his
who head
with the leaves, and for ever ordered that the tree
should be sacred to his divinity.
At
a festival in
honour of Apollo, which was held every ninth year, boughs were carried
laurel
in procession.
Adonis, the favourite of Venus, was fond of hunting
and
in
an encounter
\\\\h.
a wild boar was so
The legend
that he died.
Venus was so
states
great, that, as she
wounded
that the grief of
wept over
his
dead
body, the blood was transformed into roses, and the tears *
*'
of the
goddess herself into the anemone
or
wind-flower." Alas the Paphian fair Adonis slain, Tears plenteous as his blood she pours amain. But gentle flowers are born, and bloom around !
From every drop that pours upon the ground Where streams his blood, there blushing springs ;
the rose,
And, wheie a tear has dropped, a wind-flower blows.^
In the sacred
rites
of Ceres, the Athenian matrons
*
Ovid " Metamorphoses,"
2
Bion, Idyl
I.,
62.
iii.,
v.
346.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
417
strewed their couches with the leaves of the chaste
agmis
tree {Vitex
purpose of banishing
castus) for the
impure thoughts, and hence the derived
its
name.
It
is
tree
is
said to have
added that the ancient
physicians regarded the plant as an agent in securing chastity.
The gods
dedication of the fruits of the earth to the
in the
and even of
we may hands.
numerous
festivals,
flowers, offer so
leave
There
their
of the vine to Bacchus,
few points of interest that
investigation
to
more loving
nevertheless, an illustration of an
is,
old mythic story, which, whilst
it
demolishes
the
all
how
poetry of the Promethean legend, exemplifies
a very simple circumstance could be transformed by the imagination into a romance.
The Ferula
of the ancients was the Fe^'ula covi-
munis of Crete, an umbelliferous plant, which may be compared with our wood angelica, or hog-weed Tournefort writes
:
"
The hollow
of the stem
pied by pith, which, being well dried, takes
is
occulike
fire
a match, without injuring the outer portion, and
is
much used for carrying fire from place to Our sailors laid in a store of it. This custom
therefore place. is
may
of the highest antiquity, and
sage in
Prometheus brought
explain a pas-
Hesiod, where, speaking of the
it
stole
from
heaven,
in a Ferula, the fact
Prometheus invented the 2
he
says
that
he
being probably that
steel that strikes fire
E
that
fire
from
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
4i8
flint,
and used the pith of the Ferula
men how
teaching
Alluding to
to preserve
passage, Sir
this
fire in
for a
match,
these stalks."
Wm. Hooker
says
Prometheus invented the tinder-box." Unpoetical as such an explanation is, it undoubtedly comes very near the truth, and reduces a very •'
that
is,
romantic story to the poor level of an ordinary
mechanical invention.
The
transition from Greece
and
Rome
to the early
monkish legends associated with the Christian faith is not a very abrupt one, and if in some cases they may seem trivial, they will serve to show how minds but partially relieved from paganism exhibited a ten-
dency
to revert to the old mythical stories,
and invest
plain facts or simple precepts with the accessories of
a pagan age. privilege of,
Teaching by fable or parable
is
a
which orientals have ever taken advantage
and against
it
no
just complaint can
be made,
provided that the fables are taught as fables, and not
This
as absolute fact.
may be
illustrated
of the Cedar of Lebanon, which "
When
Seth, the son of
dying parent to fetch the
'oil
is
by a legend
thus recorded
Adam, was
sent
by
:
his
of mercy' from Paradise,
he saw from the gate of that glorious garden, which an angel opened for him without permitting him to enter, a
Cedar of Lebanon, with branches borne high The tree seemed to typify the
towards Heaven. great disaster of
Adam's
early career.
It
stood there
MYSTIC PLANTS. stricken
legend
and
is
419
and yet suggesting hope
leafless,
of Christian origin
ing raiment was seated on
— since a child top, the
its
—
for the
in glitter-
symbol of hope
for all future generations."
This ancient Syrian hermit
legend
—shows
—the
dream, perhaps, of a
that the cedar of
Lebanon,
the timber-tree of the temple built on Zion, was held in
high estimation, and exercised the fancy.
story proceeds that Seth
three seeds of that tree which he beheld
upon the spot where
sin
had been
Adam, and
so buried them.
history of the legend
ripened on the
same
is
standing
committed,
He carried
the
mouth of the dead
And
here the natural
at fault, for the three seeds,
tree in Paradise,
trees of different kinds.
still
first
but standing there blasted and dead. seeds home, placed them in the
The
from the angel
received
The
Lebanon, the cypress, and the
truth pine,
produced three is,
the cedar of
which grew from
by the and therefore the
those seeds, were held in equal estimation recluse
who dreamt
this
legend,
same marvellous, though inconsistent origin, was claimed for them all. Their future history is curious. Growing on the grave of Adam, in Hebron, they were afterwards most carefully protected by Abraham, Moses, and David.
After their removal to Jerusalem,
composed beneath them and in due time, when they had grown together and united into one giant tree, they or it for it was now one 2 E 2 the Psalms were
;
—
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
420
tree,
a cedar of
Lebanon
— was felled by Solomon for beam
the purpose of being preserved for ever as a
the Temple.
But the design
failed
;
manage
penters found themselves utterly unable to
the mighty beam.
and found
position, it
They it
raised
too long
then proved too short
;
;
it
in
the king's car-
to
its
intended
they sawed
they spliced
it,
it,
and
and again
was evidently intended for another^ office, and they laid it aside in the Temple to bide its time. While waiting for its appointed hour, the beam was on one occasion improperly made use of by a woman named Maximella, who took the liberty of sitting on it, and presently
found
it
wrong.
It
perhaps a more sacred
found her garments on
fire.
Instantly she raised a
cry, and, feeling the flames severely, she
aid of Christ, city
invoked the
and was immediately driven from the
and stoned, becoming
in
her death a pro-Christian
martyr.
In the course of an eventful history the predestined
beam became
a bridge over Cedron, and, being thrown
into the Pool of Bethesda,
it
proved the cause of
its-
became the Cross, wasburied in Calvary, exhumed by the Empress Helena, chopped up by a corrupt church, and distributed. Little more can be said for this than that it reads like a wild dream, and, like most dreams, with very little-
healing virtues.
^
Finally,
it
"Gardener's Chronicle," January
13, 1877.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
421
"
moral " at the end of it. Undoubtedly both Jews and Christians look upon the cedar of Lebanon with feelings very much akin to veneration, as the Hindoos look upon their own cedar, the deodar {Cedrus deodard), but veneration is
one thing, and adoration
is
by an admixture
another, neither being improved
of superstition.
The apple has a Avidely extended mystical history. "The myths concerning it," as Mr, Conway has indicated, " meet us in every age and country.
bears
guards
her hand as well as Eve.
in
it
the dragon watches
it,
Solomon
;
it
is
Ulysses longs for
it is
in
it
the gardens it
in
Hades.
In the prose
written that Iduna keeps in a
which the gods, when they
manner
feel old
box apples
age approaching, It is in
that they will be kept in renovated youth
until the general destruction.
Azrael, the
Angel of
Death, accomplished his mission by holding nostril
and, in the folklore,
;
by
of Alcinous
have only to taste to become young again. this
serpent
It is celebrated
the healing fruit of Arabian tales.
Tantalus grasps vainly for
Edda
it.
Aphrodite
The
Snowdrop
is
it
to his
tempted to
her death by an apple, half of which a crone has poisoned, but recovers
her in
The golden
lips.
many
more,
'
life
a Norse story, and
Frau Bertha
"because a
'
when the apple
falls
from
bird seeks the golden apples
when the
tree bears
reveals to her favourite that
mouse gnaws
at the tree's root.
no
it is
Indeed,
FREAKS OF PLANT
422
the kind mother-goddess
LIFE.
sometimes personified as
is
But oftener the apple is the tempter also, and sometimes makes mythology in Northern the nose grow so that the pear alone can bring it an apple-tree.
again to moderate
size."^
Eve with the The concepapple is traditional, tion of a divinely-endowed tree guarded by a serpent makes its appearance in the myths of many ancient
The
association of the temptation of
and not
In Russia the vine
races.2
scriptural.
sometimes represented
is
as the Tree of Knowledge.
In India
it
also a
is
climbing plant, the soma {Saixostenwia viminale),
which
is
identical with the
who
drinks of
its
have
identified
it
homa
of the Persians.
juice never dies.
Some
He
authors
with the " Tree of Life which grew
in Paradise."
The sanctity of the oak has a remote antiquity. From the oracular oak of Dodona to the sacred oaks of the Druids it was held profoundly sacred. " The tree under which Abraham was said to have received his heavenly visitors, the "
oak of mourning
"
under
which Deborah was buried, the oak under which Jacob hid the idols at Shechem the same probably
—
with that near the sanctuary under which Joshua
1
" Mystic
Nov., 1870, »
Trees and Flowers
"
in
" Fraser's
Magazine,"
p. 590.
See "Tree and Serpent Worship," by
W.
Ferguson, F.R.S,
MYSTIC PLANTS. set
up a stone
— the oak
of
423
Ophra under which the
angel sat that spoke with Gideon, the oak on which
Absolom hung, were buried
had
—
his sons
preceded the period when Isaiah
to rebuke those
when
and
that under which Saul
all
who carved
Ezekiel proclaimed
idols
from oak, and
wrath of Jehovah
the
against the idols standing under every thick oak."i
The
cypress,
of
which
sacred as an evergreen.
idols
were carved, was
It received respect in Persia,
and amongst the American Indians it is recorded that an aged cypress was held sacred and loaded with offerings.
In Greece the cypresses were the
daughters of Eteocles, hated by the goddesses they rivalled.
The myrtle has
a sanctity that precedes that of
any Christian saint. It was the emblem of Mars, and afterwards became the wreath of Aphrodite, because, after rising from the sea, she was pursued by satyrs and found refuge in a myrtle thicket. It is
still
sacred in the east.
their feast of Tabernacles,
one of the three things that
The Jews gather
it
and the Arabs say
Adam
it
for is
brought with him
out of Paradise.
The
in northern
ash,
of the universe."
was the
In
mythology, was the
Germany
the linden, or lime,
tree of the resurrection.
'
"
" tree
The
Mystic Trees and Flowers,"
fir
p. 592.
and the
424
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
many
races.
pine were held sacred by
when
Martin
St.
was permitted
was compelled
temples, he
to
In France, destroy the
to
spare the holy
fir
groves.
The
olive has
one of the
become inseparably connected with
earliest records of the
repeated references are beauty.
made
human
and
race,
in the scriptures to its
probably needs an educated eye to ap-
It
preciate the effect of
silver-like leaf,
its
but
must
it
be refreshing to ride through one of these groves
when clothed with with
fat
the olive
one
in
and is
or
flowers,
Of
oily berries.
when bowed down
all
the most prodigal of
fruit-bearing trees its
flowers, but not
The
a hundred comes to maturity.
tree
is
of slow growth, and except under peculiarly favourable circumstances,
seventh year, nor the tree
is
it
is
bears no
berries
crop worth
the
ten or fifteen years old
tremely profitable,
extreme old age.
;
then
the
until
much it
until is
ex-
and continues to yield fruit to There is little labour or care of
any kind required, and, when the ground
revive
long neglected,
if is
it
will
dug or ploughed, and
begin afresh to yield as before.
The
fruit is indis-
pensable for the comfort, and even the existence, of the mass of the
community
in
such places as Pales-
where the berry, pickled, forms the general relish to the dry bread. Early in the autumn the
tine,
berries begin to
fall.
They
are allowed to remain
MYSTIC PLANTS. under the
man
trees for
of the town.
the governor that
some time, guarded by a watchThen a proclamation is made by
all
and pick what has
425
who have
fallen.
trees should
go out
Previous to this not even
the owners are allowed to gather olives in the groves.
The proclamation
is
repeated
cording to the season.
summons, when no
once or twice, ac-
In November comes the
olives are safe unless the
watchmen
looks after them, for the
final
owner
are removed,
and the orchards become alive with men, women, and children. The shaking of the olive, which is always accompanied with much noise and merriment, is
the severest operation of Syrian husbandry, par-
ticularly
in
the mountainous
regions.^
The
olive
mind of Israelite and Christian thoughts of momentous times and events it is equally venerated by them for its history, but
undoubtedly stimulates
in the
;
is
so
even
little
a sacred or a mystic tree that perhaps
passing allusion can scarcely be justified.
this
The same may be
said of flowers
and plants alluded
to in our Lord's teachings, or associated with His
They have an
journeys. stitious
interest,
them have come
As grow
interest,
although
but not a super-
times past some of
to be regarded as mystic flowers.
several species of true in the plains
'
in
lilies
and
allied flowers
around the Mount of Beatitudes,
" Gardener's Chronicle," Sept. 18, 1875.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
426
Avestward of Gennesaret,
we cannot be
flower of deepest interest our
He
bade His hearers
Sir
J.
it
"
sure what to
when
of the
field."
Lord pointed
consider the
lilies
E. Smith, the great botanist, suggested that
was the amaryllis {Stcrnbergia
flowers outshone
"
Solomon
luted),
whose golden
in all his glory ;" others
have preferred to award the honour of having suggested
famous
the
comparison
Byzantium," or scarlet martagon the
Sermon on the Mount
summer, when which arc
scarlet
beautiful and conspicuous even at a distance."
matters but
little
which particular
both were alluded
some
satisfaction to
to,
in
know
flower, or
the injunction that there are
to be found at the spot, either of which all
;
i
It
whether
but
it
is
two flowers
would answer
the purposes of an illustration.
The monks
in the
middle ages were
of carefully tending the belief that it
of de-
believed to have been
is
pyramids of
delivered, with floral
which
lily,
corates the plains of Galilee in early
" lily
the
to
it
was the
true
lily "
in
the habit
of the valley, in the
flower of the
field,"
and
has always been in the folklore of England an
emblem
of purity, and connected in
some way with
holiness, as, for instance, in the legend of St. Leonard,
who fought much blood 1
with a dragon for three days, and lost in the encounter,
and wherev^er the blood
"Gardener's Chronicle," July
i,
1876, p.
7.
MYSTIC PLANTS. of the saint
they
The
fell
lilies
grow wild
still
427
of the valley sprang up, where in the forest of
St Leonard.
of the valley was introduced
lily
early
into
England from Southern Europe, and was largely employed in the decoration of churches in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. When the devotion of the rosary was instituted by St. Dominic, the " Lady Chapels " erected in honour of the Virgin Mary were adorned
The
"
in the
land, but
the
Mahomet let
for
him
in
said, "
He
sell
bread
lilies
of the valley.i
was not the rose of Eng-
common
Narcissus,
East generally, of which
the
that hath two cakes of bread,
one of them
is
"
yellow-flowered
and
Palestine
in
season with
Rose of Sharon
for
some
flowers of Narcissus,
the food of the body, but Narcissus
the food of the soul."
of the goddesses long before the period of
and high esteem.
is
had been the flower-crown
It
The
Scripture " rose "
its is
fame
some-
times the oleander, sometimes the rhododendron.^
There
is
a curious monkish legend extant of the
origin of the rose, although there
dates from classic times.
is
a prior one which
John Mandevillc relates that "a Christian maid of Bethlehem, blamed with wrong and slandered, and about to be martyred, Sir
prayed the Lord to spare roses
^
her, and immediately red grew from the burning brands, and white roses
"Gardener's Chronicle," July
i,
1876, p. 7.
-
Ibid., p. 8.
FREAKS OF PLANT
428
LIFE.
from the wood which was not on fire, and these," says Sir John, " were the first rosaries and roses, both white and red, that ever man saw," and henceforth the rose was the flower of martyrs, as well
an emblem of the Virgin.
as
been claimed
Mahomet
for
has also
It
he created
that
the
rose.
Apropos of monkish Spanish
origin,
legends,
there
current in Central America, of which Mr.
has given the following graphic account. "
One
pretty
one,
of
K. Lord^
J.
He
says
:
of the most singular flowers growing in this
garden
(of the
was an orchid *
is
with a singular flower,
associated
Flor del
Panama Railway Company) called
{Peristeria),
Espiritu
Santo,'
or
the
'
by the natives Flower of the
Holy Ghost.' The blossom, white as Parian marble, somewhat resembles the tulip in form its perfume is not unlike that of the magnolia, but more intense. ;
Neither
its
beauty nor fragrance begat
reverence in which
placed in
its
held, but the
the dove side
bowed
;
in
;
its
it
the high
image of a dove
Gathering the freshly-opened
and pulling apart
flower, sits
it is
centre.
its
for
its
alabaster petals, there
slender pinions droop listlessly
the head
inclining
gently forward, as
humble submission, brings the
by if
delicate
beak, just blushed with carmine, in contact with the
'
J.
K. Lord, Naturalist in Vancouver's Island.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
Meekness and innocence seem emnature and who can
snowy
breast.
bodied
in this singular freak of
marvel that crafty
phenomenon
429
;
ever
priests,
watchful
for
any
convertible into the miraculous, should
have knelt before
this
wondrous
flower,
and trained
the minds of the superstitious natives to accept the title, it
the
'
Flower of the Holy Ghost,' to gaze upon
with awe and reverence, sanctifying even the rotten
wood from which they worship
up to,
;
springs,
it
exquisite perfume
But
?
jointed,
and
;'
"
The
it.
joint spring
the time of flowering
The
the image only
attain a height of
and from each
air
laden with
the flower alone
minds ascend not from
their
God not He who made to nature's
and the
it is
is
is
'
I
its
fear
nature
bowed down
stalks of the plant are
from six to seven
feet,
two lanceolate leaves
;
June and July."
in
snipe orchis " will at once recur to us in this
connection, as reminding us of a flying bird, repre-
sented
in
the
instance, without
centre
of
the flower,
but,
any mystical association
in
this
(see fig. 45
ante).
We may
allude, also, to the flowers
been associated with the dead. amaranth,
polyanthus,
which have
The Greeks used
parsley,
and
myrtle
to
decorate tombs, and roses were prominent amongst
The
funereal flowers.
graves by the
graves are
latter
Chinese.
often
covered
In
also
are
planted on
Upper Germany the
with Diimthus
Carthu-
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
430
sianonan, whilst in France the box
winkle {Vitica minor)
and
many
in
is
common
in
In Switzerland and Tuscany the peri-
graveyards.
associated with the dead,
is
parts of Italy
is
called the " flower of
death." "
In Goethe's
and picks "
while,
custom critus,
Faust," Margaret plucks a flower,
one by one, saying mean-
off the petals,
He
loves
me, he loves
gave a crack, them, but
it
"
This
on the thumb and fore-
it
tried
whether
" the telephion
with the other.
If
it
their lovers loved
they were disappointed.
failed,
if it
it
was a sign that
called a telephion,
The
!
says that the Greeks took the petal of a
finger of one hand, slapped
he had
not
a revival of an old one recorded by Theo-
is
who
corn poppy, and laying
was
me
This
and a goatherd laments that his
Amaryllis loved him, but
gave no crack."
association of passion flowers with the passion
of our
monkish
Lord
(as
times.
the
name
Dr. Masters
indicates) is
dates
from
of opinion^ that the
species called Passiflora incarnata "
is
the one in
which the semblance of the parts of the flower to the instrument of our Lord's passion was
first
observed.
The
cross, the scourge, the hammer, the nails, the crown of thorns, even ten of the apostles Judas, who
—
betrayed, and Peter
>
who
denied, being absent
"Gardener's Chronicle," 1870,
p. 1,214.
—
all
MYSTIC PLANTS.
431
may
be seen by the imaginative in these flowers. Monardes (1593) was the first to call attention to Soon afterwards the plant was in this peculiarity. There is some cultivation at Bologna and at Rome. confusion
little
before
the exact date, but
to
Thence
1609.
into Belgium,
country
this
as
be said to have been
safely
name
of "
and
because,
as
to
have been grown
Parkinson figures
in 1629.
Maracoc
clematis
sive
He
Virginia climber."
probably was introduced
it
known
is
associates
"
he says,
might better conjoin
kindred
I
the " surpassing delight of
he had very
it
in
under the
virginiana
—the
with clematis,
it
unto what other family or
calls
it
may
it
in cultivation in Italy
it I
know all
He
not."
flowers
;"
but
sympathy with the imaginary
little
description of Monardes, as will be seen from the
following extract fain
make men
are
to
"
Some
superstitious Jesuite
all
the
and therefore
call
markes of our Saviour's it
'
flos
passionis,'
end have caused figures to
printed,
with
all
the
parts
true
as
proportioned out, as
the
sea burnes,
which
by the true figure, taken the plant, compared with the figures perceive
Jesuites,
which
I
and to
be drawne and
thornes, nails, speare, whippe, pillar, &c., in as
would
beleeve that in the flower of this plant
be scene
passion,
that
:
it
and
all
you may well to
the
set forth
have placed here likewise
life
of
by the
for every
one to see; but these bee their advantageous
lies
432
FREAKS OF PLANT
LIFE.
Fig. 87.— Jesuitic Maracoc, after Parkinson.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
433
(which with them arc tolerable, or rather, pious and meretorious) wherewith they used to instruct their
people
but
;
I
dare say
God
never willed his Priests to
instruct his people with lyes, for they
the
Divell
whereof thus
come from
author of them
In
the
regard
could not but speake (the occasion being
I
offered)
against
an erroneous
such
opinion
(which even Dr. Aldine, at Rome, disproved and contraried both the said figures, and the name), and
seek to disprove
am
it,
as doth (I say not almost, but I
afraid altogether) leade
picture
of such
many
things, as
superstitious brains
;
are
to adore the very
but the
for the flower itself
fictions is
of
far differ-
ing from their figure, as both Aldine, in the aforesaid
booke, Florae
'
drawne
may
and Robinus,
at
doe
the flowers and leaves being
set forth
to the
satisfie
life,
all
;
Paris,
in
his
'
Theatrum
and there exhibited, which
men
I
hope
that will not be perpetually
obstinate and contentious."
After criticise
gives " but
this
quotation
Dr.
Masters
proceeds
to
the Jesuitic figure, for he says Parkinson
an excellent figure of Passiflora incarnata, he seems to have overlooked the
Jesuites' figure of the Maracoc,' as
fact that
'
the
copied by him,
all, but some other more nearly resembling Passiflova glandulosa, of which it has the simple leaves and the glandular
does not represent P. incarnata at species,
footstalks.
Certainly the flower in 2 F
this
wonderful
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
434
specimen
is
a
make
'
up.'
Supposing the
'
corona
of threads to represent the crown of thorns, and the
stamens the
five
nails,
the Jesuit artist has just
reversed their natural position nails
;
the five stamens
— are at the base of the column, while a terribly
material crown of thorns occupies the proper place
of the stamens at the top of the column.
The
three
stigmas, too, are certainly unusually like spear-heads,
so that there can be no question that Aldinus was quite correct little
when he
stated that with the aid of a
straining of the imagination the
emblems of the
Passion might be as well found in a great other flowers.
must
It
two of the older authors
also be
many
remembered that no
agree, one with the other, as
By
to the precise significance of the several parts.
some the coronet
is
the type of the crown of thorns,
while others see in
ovary
for
is
some
it
the
'
stamens represent with some the the
wounds,
five
different version
;
The
parted vesture.'
the sponge dipped in gall nails,
each author giving
;
the
with others a
slightl}-
and Ferrari compares the 'column
'
to the pillar to which Christ was attached, and not to
the cross, because the gentle nature of the flower did
not admit of gibbet
!
"
its
reproducing the emblem of the
1
' Subsequent critical observations by Mr. A. Forsyth, in "Gardener's Chronicle" (1870), p. 1,409, do not controvert
these remarks.
MYSTIC PLANTS.
435
saw him as he mused one day Beneath a forest bower, With clasp'd hands stand, and upturn'd I
eyes,
Before a Passionflower Exclaiming with a fervent joy, "
have found the Passion flower
I
The
!
passion of our blessed Lord,
With
all his
pangs and pain,
Set forth within a beauteous flower.
In shape and colours plain.
Up,
I
will forth into the
world
And take this flower with me, To preach the death of Christ to As
it
was preached
The gathering is
to
all
me.
of willow catkins on
Palm Sunday
the remains of a custom of the early Church in
remembrance of the palm branches strewed
in
the
way of Christ as he went up to Jerusalem. Sprigs of boxwood are still used in Catholic countries, and the willow collected on Palm Sunday
many who come
gather
it.
Why
is
called
palm by
the willow should have
into use for such a purpose, has been explained
in various
ways.
cient days a
Thus^
"
because willow was
badge of mourning, as
from the several expressions of
nymphs and herdsmen
may
in an-
be collected
Virgil,
where the
are introduced sitting under
a willow mourning their loves."
This
is
hardly
satis-
palm branches were not emblems of mourning, but of triumph. A less elaborate reasoning is that " these seem to have been
factory, because the original
2 F 2
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
436
Fig.
-Passion Flower {Passijlora cinciiuiatd). *' Gardener's Chronicle."
MYSTIC PLANTS.
437
selected as substitutes for the real palm, because they
are generally the only things, at this season, which
can be easily procured,
which the power of vege-
in
Box was
tation can be discovered." in this
country
evidently in use
the middle
in
of the sixteenth century and it
is
possible that the use of
box was discontinued on the plea that it was a Romish superstition
bearing clared
;
the
was
de-
palms
of in
although
1536
"not to be
contemned and cast away
;
yet in Stow's Chronicle (1548) it
is
the
stated that "this yeere
ceremony
of
bearing
palmes on Palme Sonday was left off,
fore." "
and not used as be-
The
blessing
continued countries
ceremony
in
of
the
/^v
continent.i ecMtms.
89.
—
—
Medicago
" Gardener's
more humble
Another, and
plant, a kind of clover
the Levant,
of
box " is still some of the
the
is
held
{Medicago
in
ecJiiniis),
reverence
as
found
in
a supposed
^ See " Gardener's Chronicle " for a resume of a sermon on one of these occasions, in which the symbolism of the box is insisted upon, April 19, 1873, p. 543.
FREAKS OF PLANT
438
memento
of the
wounds on the its
spiny
Of
LIFE.
with the symbol of the and the crown of thorns in
Passion, leaves,
fruits.
other customs which remain as simple cere-
monies, with
little
meaning,
may
it
safely be predi-
cated that they had in past times a mystic association,
now
forgotten.
The
use of holly, ivy, and mistletoe, as Christmas decorations, are
of this kind, in the latter case
with a date anterior to the of Christianity.
introduction
Whatever may be
its
position
now, the mistletoe was in
for-
mer times a mystic plant and, as Schouw says, "It is not a matter of surprise that
a
of
plant
aspect,
such a
such
peculiar
and which occurs
in
remarkable position
as the mistletoe, should have Fig. 90.
— Mistletoe
{Viscum album).
influence
awakened the
attention
various
and
over their religious ideas.
especially important
part
oak was sacred with them forests
;
races,
among
played an
The
the Gauls.
their priests
;
It
of
exerted
abode
in
oak
oak boughs and oak leaves were used
in
every religious ceremony, and their sacrifices were
made beneath an oak
tree
;
but the mistletoe, when
MYSTIC PLANTS.
439
grew upon the oak, was peculiarly sacred, and
it
garded as a divine
It
gift.
was gathered, with great
ceremony, on the sixth day after the of the year
time placed
first
tree
;
new moon
first
two white oxen, which were then
:
in
re-
for the
yoke, were brought beneath the
the sacrificing priest (Druid), clothed in white
garments, ascended
a golden sickle
it
;
it,
and cut
off the mistletoe with
was caught
in a
white cloth held
beneath, and then distributed amongst the bystanders.
The oxen were effects of the
from
with prayers for the happy
A
beverage was prepared
and used as a remedy
this,
remnant of
this
seems to exist
to favour fertility.
new
in Britain to
mas eve
the
;
men
lead the
'
to the roof
women under
a merry Christmas and a happy
new
its
of
custom
and wish Perhaps
new
year,
leaves giving the bare tree the ap-
pearance of having regained
One
for
on Christ-
it,
year.
the mistletoe was taken as a symbol of the
on account of
;
au gui Fan
It is also a
year's greeting.
hang the mistletoe
France
still in
the peasant boys use the expression, neuf,' as a
and
for all poisons
and which was supposed
diseases,
A
sacrificed,
mistletoe.
the strangest
Mandrake." Some belief
its
of
foliage."
mystic
^
plants
is
the
in its
power was evidently
current amongst the Hebrews.
Josephus gives an
"
account of the custom
'
Schouw,
"
in
Jewish villages of pulling
Earth Plants and Man,"
p. 218.
440
FREAKS OF PLANT
Fig. 91.
LIFE.
— Male Mandrake.
MYSTIC PLANTS. up the root by means of a dog, which shriek. "
To
This
procure
is it,
441
is
by
killed
its-
the salient feature of the superstition,
one must cut away
all rootlets
to the.
up that would cause death to any creature hearing it. So one must stop his ears caremain root
fully,
to pull
;
and, having tied a
The dog
is
dog
to the root, run away.
then called, and pulling up the root,
is
instantly killed."
was believed in France and Germany that the mandrake sprang up where the presence of a criminal had polluted the ground, and was sure to be found near a gallows. Having got the root, it must be It
bathed every Friday, kept
and then written
it
in a
would procure manifold
by a burgess of Leipsic
(in 1675),
white cloth in a box, benefits.
A letter, Riga
to his brother in
has been preserved, and this contains the
popular notion of the time as to the virtues of the mannikin, earth-man, or mandrake.
It
affairs hast suffered great
cows, swine, sheep,
;
;
in
thy
cellar,
home
that thy children,
and horses, have
wine and beer soured destroyed
sorrow
that
recites
the writer had heard of his brother that in " thy
died
all
;
thy
and thy provender
and that thou dwellcst with thy wife
great contention."
He
in
then proceeds to say that he
went to those who understood such things, and they told him that these evils proceeded not from God, but from wicked people, and this was the remedy. *
If thou hast a
mandrake, and bring
it
into
thy
FREAKS OF PLANT
442
LIFE.
So he had thalers, and sent
house, thou shalt have good fortune."
one purchased it
to
him
for
him
for sixty-four
as a present, with these instructions
/v>. 92,
— Female
thou hast the mandrake
in
days without approaching water.
With
"When
Mandrake.
thy house, it
:
;
let it rest
then place
it
in
three
warm
the water afterwards sprinkle the animals
MYSTIC PLANTS.
443
and sills of the house, going over all, and soon it shall go better with thee, and thou shalt come to thy own Bathe it four if thou serve the mandrake right. times every year, and as often wrap it in silk cloths and lay it among thy best things, and thou need do no more. The bath in which it has been bathed is
When
specially good.
thou goest to law, put the
mannikin under thy right arm, and thou shalt succeed, whether right or wrong." ^ Curious old figures of the traditional mandrake are
extant,
its
potency,
of which
we
give copies.
and of marvels
numerous
possession, arc
in
Stories of
associated Britain,
with
France,
its
and
Germany. Or teach me where
wondrous mandrake grows from the earth with groans At midnight hour, can scare the fiends away,
Whose magic
And make
the
that
root, torn
mind
prolific in its fancies."
In a French work (dated 17 18) a peasant
is
said to
have possessed a bryony root of human shape, which he received from a gipsy. conjunction of the
on a Monday,
moon
in a grave,
He
buried
it
at a lucky
with Venus, in spring, and
and sprinkled
it
with milk
which three field-mice had been drowned.
in
'
" Mystic Trees
December, -
and Flowers,"
in
In a
" Fraser's Magazine,"
1870.
Longfellow's " Spanish Student," p. 92.
FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE.
444
became more human-like than ever then it in an oven with vervain, wrapped it afterwards in a dead man's shroud and so long as he kept The it he never failed in luck at games or work. root of the white bryony has, during later times, been
month
it
;
he placed
;
designated the history of is
obscure.
its
mandrake," but the precise time or
"
substitution for the genuine
mandrake
In different parts of Europe fragments
of the old superstition
linger,
still
and
bits of the
root are cherished as charms, love-tokens, as a pre-
ventive
from night-mare, or a protection from bad
men and
evil
attributed to It
it
spirits,
or
would not be
difficult to
with allusions to flowers parts,
even for the old virtues
by the Jews. and
occupy an entire chapter plants, or
which have had a reputation
being associated with the world of
in
some of
their
times past of
spirits, as philtres
or love-charms, as a protection against witchcraft, or
some mysterious virtue. Such was the Saint John's Wort {Hypei'iacm pe}-foratu7n\g^.ihQred on the eve of St. John the Baptist Day, and hung over doors and windows as a charm against storms,
as possessing
thunder, and evil
spirits,
or carried on the person as
a protection against witchcraft and enchantment,
on Midsummer's Eve and many others, curious enough in themselves, but which have become " popular antiquities." A somewhat kindred subject, which has never been the gathering of fern-seed
MYSTIC PLANTS. exhaustively treated, its
the
is
"
445
language of flowers,"
broadest and most philosophical aspect.
more
true
of such
Persia and
countries as
in
It is
India
than of England and France, that every indigenous flower has idea,
become the symbol of some
and hence
it
of those countries of which alphabet.
The Hindoo
in every object
and
terest in flowers
is
attribute or
speaks a language to the natives
in
we have not
learnt the
or the Parsee sees a
every act of his
more sensual
;
life
;
symbol otir in-
we admire
their
colour, their form, their odour, and, if these gratify us,
we
are content.
Perhaps we might with
profit
study
the language of flowers in the East, and find something to learn from the Parsee or the Hindoo. Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer, They are nature's ofiering, their place is there They speak of hope to the fainting heart With a voice of promise they come and part They sleep in dust, through the wintry hours They break forth in glory bring flowers, bright flowers ;
;
—
!
FREAKS OF PLANT
446
CHAPTER
LIFE.
XX.
FLOWERS OF HISTORY,
Some
little
latitude for gossip
corded to us for a concern
we
final chapter,
much with
itself
may
perhaps be ac-
even
if it
scientific fact.
should not
Confessedly,
are proposing to enter the regions of tradition
and romance, with no design of illuminating dark pages of history, or giving a new rendering to old myths. eras,
Tales of the nursery, and similar juvenile
are apt to cling about one, in spite of
more
many a decade. After a long may be permitted to describe an
serious studies, through
journey a traveller
adventure or two, and narrate some of the legends of the country through which he has passed.
not be wholly
trivial to
ascertain, if
what are the plants which
be seen that is
it is
familiar
be imagined.
apt to
come
in
The
enough
in
rose, thistle,
and
name, but
will
it
not quite so easy to determine which
the thistle and what
first
can be done,
emblems or myths
as
are associated with old stories.
shamrock may be
it
It will
is
Little
the shamrock, as might at national predilections are
the way, so that what reason might
be disposed to accept, prejudice
is
fain to dispute.
FLOWERS OF HISTORY.
447
Reasonably and loyally we commence with the which old Gerarde says
rose,
chiefest
"
doth
deserve the
and most principal place among
all
flowers
whatsoever, being not only esteemed for his beautie, vertues,
and
his fragrant
also because
it
is
and odoriferous
smell, but
the honor and ornament of our
English scepter, as by the conjunction appecreth the
in
uniting of those two most royal houses
of
Lancaster and York."
The emblematic rose of England is not involved in much obscurity, and the period of its first assumption "
seems to be contained
The
roses of
devices
as
in the following
England were
first
by the sons of Edward
Gaunt, Duke
record
:
publicly assumed III.
John of
of Lancaster, used the red rose for the
his family, and his brother Edward, who was created Duke of York in 1385, took a white rose for his device, which the followers of them and
badge of
their heirs
afterwards bore for distinction in that
bloody war between the two Houses of York and
The two families being happily united by Henry VH., the male heir of the house of LanLancaster.
caster
marrying
Princess
Elizabeth,
the
eldest
daughter and heiress of Edward IV. of the House of
York, i486, the two roses were united
in
one,
and
became the royal badge of England."^ 1
Hugh
p. 172.
Clark's " Introduction to Heraldry," 13th ed. (1840),
FREAKS OF PLANT
448
LIFE.
Before the adoption of the rose, the broom was the
badge of the House of Plantagenet.
Tradition says
name
the
that
is
derived from this
circumstance, and
plaiita
being
ge?iista
combined.
The
{Gen-
latter
was the bo-
ista)
tanical
the "
name
for
"
be-
broom
fore the present one
{Sarothamnus) was
The
adopted.
name
of
"
Planta-
another
genet,"
account says, was first
by
assumed
Geoffrey,
Anjou,
Earl the
of
hus-
band of Matilda, Empress of Germany, who, having Fig. 93.
— Broom {Sarothamnus scoparius).
placed a sprig of the his
day of
battle,
originated
"
broom
"
in
helmet on the
the surname, which was
bequeathed to his descendants.
FLOWERS OF HISTORY. The hawthorn is associated House of England, and was
On
Tudors.
was
its origin.
at
M'as slain
449
Royal
also with the
the
badge
of
the
the authority of Miss Strickland, this
When the body of Richard III., who Redmore Heath, was plundered of its
armour and ornaments, the crown was hidden by a It was soon found and soldier in a hawthorn bush. carried back to Lord Stanley, who placed it on the head of his son-in-law, saluting him by the title of
Henry VII., whilst the victorious army sang the " Te Deum." In memory of this ev'ent it is said that the House of Tudor assumed as a device a crown in a bush
of
proverb
fruiting
There
hawthorn.
is
an
old
:
Cleave to the crown, though
which appears to allude to
it
hang
in
a bush,
this tradition.
Stow gives an account of King Henry VHI. and Queen Katherine riding a-Maying from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's Hill, accompanied by
had any all
many
relation
the old
lords
and
ladies,
to the tradition
but we doubt
May-day customs gathering
had a prominent
place.
Brand,
in
if this
above quoted.
In
the hawthorn
his " Antiquities,"
gives a long account of the customs in vogue on
^
May-
day, and their supposed relationship to the ancient
and
floralia,
^
subsequent
association
Brand, "Antiquities,"
2
vol.
G
i.,
with
pp. 212 to 270.
Robin
FREAKS OF PLANT
450
Hood and called
his
mcny
men.
The
LIFE.
first
of
May was also
Robin Hood's day, and even Bishop Latimer
failed to secure
an audience on that day, for
all
the
parish had gone abroad to gather for Robin Hood, so that he his
"
was
fain to give place to
Robin Hood and
men." have been rambling
\\"c
all this night,
And almost all this day And now returned back again, ;
We The
have brought you a branch of May.
" historical associations of the " forget-me-not
(or Myosotis ayvcnsis) effect.
are narrated to the following
Miss Strickland, writing of Henry of Lan-
caster, says, this royal adventurer, the
banished and
aspiring Lancaster, appears to have been the person
who gave
to the " forget-me-not "
and poetical meaning, by uniting
it,
its
emblematical
at the period
of
his exile, in his collar of SS., with the initial letter of
motor watchword, " souveignc, vous de moy," thus rendering it the symbol of remembrance. Henry is
his
exchanged this token of goodwill and remembrance with his hostess, who was at that time said to have
wife of the
Duke of Bretagne. If this be a true we must bid farewell to the poetical the drowned knight, who being carried
tradition, then
romance of
by
the stream, as he gathered
for his lady,
made
ciated as
name.
its
some of
these flowers
use of the expression since asso-
FLO IVERS OF HISTOR V.
Many
45
other trees and flowers have from time to
time been associated, historically, with events which ha\'e transpired
country
this
in
;
but Boscobel
Oak
and Glastonbury thorn, and such mementoes must be passed over, as our limits arc reached, and we must hasten to the final page.
There has been continued controversy as to the plant with three leaflets which furnished St. Patrick
with his familiar illustration of the doctrine of the Trinit}-.
rock,
with
is
Some have affirmed the plant
call
that this, the Irish sham-
wood-sorrel,^ whilst others,
whom most Irishmen agree,
white clover.Isle
we
is
The
visit
maintain that
it is
the
of the saint to the Emerald
supposed to have taken place about the year
433, whereas the white clover
is
of comparatively
recent introduction into Ireland, so that
it
could not
have been that plant which apparently was so read}-
hand
at
to illustrate the saint's discourse.
son's histor}', written at the
seventeenth century,
it is
In Mori-
commencement
of the
said that " the Irish willingly
eat the herb shamrock, being of a sharp taste, which
they snatch out of the ditches.^
however applicable
it
may be
not equally so to the white clover.
'
'
Oxalis acetosella.
This description,
to the Avood-sorrel,
The
Irish
is
sham-
- Trifolium repcns. Fynis Morison's " History of the Civil Wars in Ireland,
between 1599 and 1603." 2
G 2
FREAKS OF PLANT
452
LIFE.
rock was certainly a plant having leaves composed of three
and as a four-leaved shamrock was
leaflets,
supposed to possess magical
sumed
that
it
virtues,
was not common.
also of the wood-sorrel, but
is
is
be as-
not true of the white
it is
by no means uncommon.
may
This would be true
supplementary
clover, for a leaf possessed of a
two plants
it
In
fact, if
leaflet
one of these
to be regarded as the veritable shamrock,
the evidence
is
very strongly
in
favour of the wood-
notwithstanding the national predilection for
sorrel,
the clover.
The Scotch emblem the thistle, has been the subject much controversy, both as to its origin and the The tradition particular species which is symbolical.
of
has often been cited which carries
origin
its
back to
the time of the Danish invasion. "In a night assault,
a bare-footed
Dane
trod on a thistle, and uttering a
cry from the sudden pain, the sleeping Scotch were
timcously aroused, and succeeded
enemy.
Henceforth the
to
James
thistles are
in
defeating the
was elevated
to
its
Sir Harris Nicholas traces the
present distinction."^
badge
thistle
III., for, in
an inventory of his jewels,
mentioned as part of the ornaments.
^
According to Pinkerton, the first authentic mention of the thistle as the badge of Scotland is in Dunbar's
poem 1
"
entitled "
The
Thrissell
Notes and Queries,"
v., p.
281.
and the Rois," written
-
Ibid.,
i.,
p. 90.
FLOWERS OF HISTORY.
453
on the occasion of the marriage of James IV.
in 1503,
with Margaret Tudor.
Hamilton of Bargowe ex-
states that
pressly
the plant was the
"Monarch's choice,"^
and Sir D. Lindsey in 1537,
mentions
it
emblem of
the
as
James V.
The
botanical
question, " which
the
true
thistle ?"
tigated
is
Scotch
was
inves-
by Dr. G.
and his conclusions are
Johnston,"
now generally What is denominated by
those
accepted.
gardeners
the
"Scotch Thistle an
is
plant,
"3
Fig. 94.
— Cotton Thistle {Onopordum acanthhim).
introduced
and not
advocates, and
a native, and, is
though
^
Notes
-
Johnston's " Botany of the Eastern Borders,"
^
in
it
has had
planted round the grave of Burns
Dunbar's Poems,
Onopordum acanthium.
vol.
ii.,
p.
219. p. 130.
FREAKS OF PLANT
454
Dumfries,
in
it
could scarcely have been the tradi-
tionary thistle of Scotland.
the
LIFE.
A
young
Hebrides pointed out another
eriphoriis) as the
Scotch
At
thistle.
chieftain
plant
in
{Carduus
Inverness Sir
James Grant said that the
Scotch
thistle
was the only one that {Carduus
drooped nutans) Sir
;
and, finally,
William Drum-
mond
maintained
no
that
particular
any
but
thistle,
the poet
thistle
painter
chose,
or
was
the national flower of
Whether
Scotland. it
was a thistle armed
with spines
or not
was contested, and this
induced
Dr.
Johnston to seek a solution Fig- 95-
Musk
Thistle {Carduus
nutans).
of
the
figures impressed
on
money
the
the
of
Now, the first who so marked money was James V., and on the coins of
kings of Scotland. his
by an ex-
amination
"
FLOWERS OF HISTORY. lij.s
reign
thistle
(15 14
only
is
455
1542) the head or flower of a
to
represented.
On
a coin of James VI.,
of 1599, there are three thistles grouped and united at the base, whence two leaves spread lateral I}-, and the stalk of the plant
on one of 1602, there
is
spinous.
On
later coins, as
only a single head, while the
is
and spines are retained, and this figure is the same given on all subsequent coins, the form of the flower itself having suftered no change from its first leaves
"This evidence," savs Johnston, "seems
adoption.
^•^^,.-
Fig. 96.— Scotch coin of 1603.
to
me
greater
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