PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
the nourishment-giving partner may not re- 
ceive some psychic or spiritual benefit from 
the union? ‘The Orchids and many other tree- 
parasites bear flowers of exquisite beauty. Can 
we be quite sure that the trees do not like to 
adorn themselves with gorgeous ornaments of 
this kind? Such a desire would be quite 
natural. 
Plants which are low and weak in the scale 
of evolution are very prone to enter into sym- 
biotic relations. The Lichens are compound 
organisms in which green Algal cells live be- 
tween fungous threads. The Fungus sucks up 
the water and mineral salts from the soil and 
the Alga combines them with carbon dioxide 
from the air to form palatable food for both. 
Such plant-partners have been observed to live 
together amiably for twenty-five years or more. 
The Fungi and all plants which are “pale, 
fleshy, as if the decaying dead with a spirit of 
life had been animated” have no chlorophyll, 
the mysterious green substance which is neces- 
sary for the production of starch. They 
must either make alliances with plants which 
possess this vital elixir or live on decaying mat- 
[60] 
