30 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



actually touch them with their staffs thinking the 

 plants an ill or lazy animal ! 



Perhaps one of the most unusual instances of 

 real mimicry is found among castor-oil beans. 

 They assume both the shape and the colour of the 

 coccinella beetles, and so escape the attention of 

 graminivorous birds which would be likely to peck 

 the seeds to pieces and destroy them. They look, 

 too, not unlike tiny pebbles. 



The sea-weeds also are imitative. They mimic 

 many earthly and human things: the broad green 

 and red fronds are perfectly simulated ribbons; 

 the numerous forms and colours of algae lie mar- 

 vellously close to laces, frills, threads, nets, and 

 feathers floating in the sea. What a world of imi- 

 tations under the water! Here a string of beads; 

 there a graceful sea-fan carelessly waving at some 

 phantom lover! Beads, necklaces, jewels all dis- 

 playing their ornate loveliness to any one who will 

 behold! 



An interesting form of plant simulation is that 

 which is found in a certain species of mistletoe. 

 This plant is a native of Australia, and its leaves 

 imitate so closely the leaves of the plant on which 

 it is a parasite, that only a skilled botanist or nat- 

 uralist can distinguish between the two. 



A similar example, equally interesting, is that of 



