i64 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



Gorse ( Ulex europceiis) takes possession of our sandy 

 commons and heaths unasked, to share them here 

 and there with the Heather. The Broom {Sarotham- 

 nus scoparms) has put in a claim to the embank- 

 ments and cuttings of our railways ; the Ragwort 

 {Seitecio jacobea) has long ago set its sign and seal 

 on all badly-kept pastures, and its brilliant gold 

 makes them rich in colour, if they are poor in 

 produce. Thistles in abundance cover our waste 

 ground, in company with Nettles and several other 

 vegetable vagabonds, all of which are found in each 

 other's company, because they love to follow the 

 same habits of life. The " social plants," however, 

 are much more numerous in temperate regions 

 than in tropical. Kingsley says they are rare in 

 tropical forests, the only instances he saw being the 

 Moras and the Moriche Palms. In this respect the 

 Cape of Good Hope seems to be an exception, for 

 the marvellous flora of the " bush " is greatly of a 

 social character. Sir Charles Bunbury states that a 

 large Meseinbryanthemiim^ with bright green leaves 

 and large straw-coloured flowers, is one of the 

 commonest of all plants on all the sandy lands. Its 

 stems, lying flat on the ground, spread so as to form 

 extensive mats of verdure more lively than that of 

 the surrounding vegetation. 



We have already seen that botanists consider all 

 the parts of flowers as so many modified leaves — a 

 theory which most of the "monstrosities" and "sports" 



