CO- OPERA TION. 1 63 



Coltsfoot {Ticssilago farfara), Crocus, and Snow- 

 drops ; or try to do so, as with the Primroses, 

 Violets, and Daffodils, which develop their leaves 

 much more abundantly after flowering than before. 

 The Meadow Saffron (Colchicicrn autiumtale), is a 

 plant which produces leaves at one part of the year, 

 and flowers at another. 



Our '' social plants " have been largely influ- 

 enced in their gregarious habits by mutual likes 

 and dislikes. What species extend over so large an 

 area as the Heathers ? Our moorlands and hill- 

 tops are purpled with them in the late summer time, 

 but they refuse to take up their abodes on limestone 

 and chalk hills ; and they show just as much pre- 

 ference for the Millstone Grit formation as they do 

 dislike for all kinds of calcareous rocks. Sir Charles 

 Bunbury {Botanical Fragments) tells us that " some 

 of the Cape Heaihs, like those of our own country, 

 are social or gregarious plants, growing crowded 

 together in large masses, and covering considerable 

 spaces of ground." The well-known Cornish Heath 

 {Erica vagans) extends only over the Serpentine 

 rocks, whose area it designates like a geological map. 



The plants usually growing profusely together 

 near the sea, designated " social," may do so because of 

 their salt-loving habits. Among these may be men- 

 tioned the Thrift {Statice armeria)^ the Sea Lavender 

 {Statice limoniiini), the Sea Convolvulus {Convolvulus 

 soldanella), Atriplex, Sea Buckthorn, etc. The Yellow 



