134 JBotan^ 



honeysuckle ; it modifies leaves into tendrils, as does 

 the sweet pea ; it puts forth aerial roots at its nodes, 

 as does the iv}^ ; it elongates a leaf-stem to wrap 

 around and around some proffered stay, as does the 

 clematis ; or diverts a bud for such purj^ose, as the 

 grape vine. 



Other plants, of a lowlier mind, creep along the 

 ground. The prince's-pine forms a strong, thick mat, 

 cleaving to every root, twig, grass-stem in its way, 

 striking rootlets here and there, until only a strong 

 hand and a firm WTench can drag it from the earth, 

 its mother. Cinque-foil and its cousin, strawberry, 

 send out runners from all sides, which root and 

 shoot up new plants until the whole bed is a soli- 

 darity, and would so remain did not the thankless 

 l^lants keep all food and moisture for themselves, 

 and deliver over the runners to death by starvation. 



The walking-fern has a most original way of get- 

 ting over the ground ; it bends its slender frond and 

 starts a root by extending the tip of the mid-rib ; so 

 it sets up a new plant, and is anchored fast on all 

 sides by its rooted frond tips, covering the ground 

 with a rich carpet of verdure. The variety of run- 

 ners along the ground is as great as the climbers up. 



All motion of the plant is a form of growth. The 

 plant grows by day and by night, but more by day, 

 as light and heat are incentives to growth. 



