204 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Patridge Vine. 



Here is a plant that is unique in the 

 floral world — our little wild wood 

 friend, the partridge vine. In its 

 flowers we see a double floral union to 

 produce one household. 



THE PARTRIPC.E VINE IN BLOOM. 



Those familiar with plant biology 

 know that cross fertilization, which 

 most plants strive for, requires the 

 flowers of two separate plants for trie 

 production of seed. This has been 

 called the marriage of the flowers. But 

 here in the partridge vine two complete 

 flowers enter into partnership on the 

 same plant to produce fruit and seed, 

 and the result is our pretty red berry 

 with its double scar in the "blow end." 

 It is a Siamese twin, the offspring of 

 two pairs of parents, and so fused to- 

 gether that even the most skillful 

 botanist cannot distinguish the indivi^ 

 dual children, or discern the double 

 parentage save by the twin scar re- 

 ferred to. It is thus a colony of two 

 and suggests the aggregate colonies of 

 polyps in the animal world. 



The plant here pictured was found in 

 the deep recesses of a hemlock grove in 

 Ulster County, New York. Under the 

 swaying branches, shut away from the 

 sun, among the brown needles and tiny 

 cones of repeated havests, is the typical 

 home of the partridge vine. Nestling 

 close to the ground it forms a carpet 

 of exquisite verdure exactly in keening 

 with the dark canony of the hemlocks, 

 and the berries, a vivid and living red, 

 lie among the glossy leaves like jewels, 

 often so thickly set as fairly to crowd 

 and jostle one another in a riotous ef- 

 fort to add brightness and cheer to the 

 forest's austere and sombre grandeur. 

 Our little plant was taken up by loving- 

 hands with enough of its own soil to 



THE TWIN FLOWERS OF THE PARTRIPGE VINE. 



