146 PLANT LIFE 
The hyacinth is by no means necessarily 
a woodland plant. In many parts of Wales 
and Scotland it grows amongst the grass in 
the open fields, wherever it is able to compete 
with the growing herbage. 
The point which the hyacinth enables us 
to emphasise is this, that whilst the bulbous 
(or tuberous) habit is one which will put its 
owner into favourable relation with certain 
types of dry climates, it will also, and for 
analogous reasons, prove an_ adaptation 
suitable for other and very different conditions 
as well, provided that these also include a 
brief period favourable to the vegetative 
activity of the plants. 
When the climate is persistently dry the 
vegetation is usually mixed and consists of 
plants which are either succulent or spiny. 
These seem contradictory features, and in a 
measure so they are. Nevertheless, each 
habit, that of succulence and that of spininess, 
is well adapted for dry climatic conditions. 
The succulent plant stores what water it can 
get and when it can get it. A remarkably 
extensive and deep root system is often 
developed, by which it is enabled to search 
the ground thoroughly and effectively for the 
requisite moisture. Moreover, such water as 
it does acquire is lost very slowly, owing to 
peculiar features connected with the stomata. 
The presence of wax or ‘“‘ bloom ”’ also serves 
as an additional check to the escape of watery 
vapour. 
