DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER 



213 



together, and thereby the area may support more plants than 

 would ~be possible if only one kind were growing on it. This 

 principle has been called by Darwin the divergence of 

 character. When an area is occupied by one kind of 



363. On the top of an evergreen forest. 



plant, another kind may grow between or beneath. Only 

 rarely do plants of close botanical relationship grow to- 

 gether in compact communities. A field which is full of 

 corn may grow pumpkins between. Fig. 358. A full 

 meadow may grow white clover in the bottom. In a dense 

 wood herbs may grow on the forest floor. When an. 



