CHAPTER IX 



THE PILGRIMS OF THE YEAR 



September 



''The violet loves the sunny bank, 

 The cowslip loves the lea, 

 The scarlet creeper loves the elm, 

 The pine the mountain free." 



The year around, and the world around, journey 

 the plant pilgrims. Among those perennials which 

 are found in all latitudes and seasons are the lichens, 

 fungi, and algae, or water weeds. In September, 

 while we wait for the fruits and seeds to finish ripen- 

 ing, let us make some small studies in these three re- 

 lated groups in the vegetable sub-kingdom called the 

 thallogens. 



This sub-kingdom, one of the chief divisions of the 

 vegetable kingdom, is known also as the class thal- 

 lophytes. It contains the simplest forms of vegetable 

 life. Its chief groups are the fungi and alg8e,the lichens 

 being related to both, as if algse and fungi had united 

 in one plant, dividing and somewhat changing the 

 characteristics of each. 



At any period of the year you can find lichens in 

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