OF THE GENUS ULEX. 45 



Stem by means of the capillarity of the furrow on the upper 

 surface. A drop of water placed on the tip of a leaf, which was 

 curved downwards, did not fall off, but was immediately taken 

 away up the furrow to the stem. It was even found that on 

 dipping the apex of a leaf in water that it was slowly conducted 

 away and delivered in drops at the root. 



These experiments seem to show the seedling — growing, as it 

 often does, upon stony and sandy soils — is enabled, by means of 

 the collecting power of its leaves, to ensure that its roots shall 

 have a chance of absorbing whatever water may fall upon it, and 

 so to some extent overcome the difficulty of the water supply in a 

 soil from which water is so quickly drained. 



In conclusion, we shall see^ I think, that this study of the 

 Furze plant, incomplete as it is, affords an insight into the contri- 

 vances by which Nature is able to overcome the difficulties of 

 various kinds to which plants are subject during their develop- 

 ment, and shows how quickly they may respond to changes in the 

 environment, and so produce variations ready, if necessary, to be 

 further improved and strengthened by natural selection. 



, Literature. 

 I. — Wydler. Kleinere Beitrage zur Kentniss einheimischer Gew- 



achse. Flora, i860, p. 23. 

 2. — Buchenau. Die Sprossverhaltniss von Ulex. Flora^ i860, 



p. 449. 

 3. — Winkler. Die Keimpflanze des Sarothamnus vulgaris Wimm,, 



im Vergleiche mit der des Ulex Europceus^ L. Verhandlung. 



Nat. Verein. d. Preuss. Rheinlande und Wertfalens. Bd. 37, 



1880, p. 157. 

 4.— Kerner. Pfianzenleben. 

 5. — Lothelier. An account of the Formation of Spines. From 



a paper by Bonnier in Revue Gmerale de Bofaftique, Tom. 2, 



1890, p. 276. 

 6. — Lubbock. A Contributmi to our Kjiowledge of Seedlt?igs, 



Vol. I., p. 409. 

 7. — Henslow. The Origifi of Plant Structures^ 1895, P* 4°- 

 8. — Warming. Lehrbuch der Oekologischeji Pflanze?igeo graphic^ 1896 

 9, — Muir. Agriculture^ Practical and Scientific^ iS95- 

 10. — The article on Agriculture, in The Encyclopcedia Britannica. 



