4 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



to multiply rapidly, moisture is necessary, and the locusts are 



not particular to time their visits to our gardens during the 



wet seasons. 



Lichens grow on rocks and trees where they lend splashes 



of colour in many shades of red 

 and brown, grey and green. 

 They, too, have their place in 

 the plant-world, and do their 

 share of the world's work. They 

 can thrive in barren spots where 

 no flowers can beautify. Small 

 as they are, they can dissolve 

 and absorb small portions of the 



'"aer1;ruSf£r''(";om ^cks on which they dwell. 

 Thom6 and Bennett's " Struc- Gradually these plants crumble 



tural and Physiological Botany".) ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ 



nourish some less humble plant. 



Mushrooms " that spring up in a night " bear their fruit and 

 die. Contrasted with these small short-lived plants are those 

 that grow to immense size and live through generations. We 

 owe the oaks and the fir trees that beautify the western part of 

 Cape Province to the first European settlers, to whose unselfish 

 foresight they stand as lasting monuments. The historical oak 

 of French Hoek has blossomed and shed its fruit for two hun- 

 dred years, but no date in history records the planting of the 

 famous " Wonderboom " of Pretoria. Where the spreading 

 branches have taken root, new trunks have grown up until the 

 single tree has become a small forest. 



The life histories of the moulds, yeasts, and disease germs 

 have been learned only in recent years, since microscopes have 

 been improved ; but the old Hebrew poets, who watched the 

 paths of the stars as they tended their flocks, studied the trees 

 and flowers ; and we know our Saviour cared for them, for He 

 often spoke of them in teaching His beautiful lessons. We, too, 

 may study them without books and without knowing their long 

 Latin names, though these have their uses. How unfortunate 

 it would be if Johannesburg or Springbokfontein had no names 

 when we wished to book our luggage for those places. The 



