PLANTS THAT ARE ATHLETES 75 



"packed-up" and clad in its brown travelling suit, it 

 is ready to start on a wild, care-free frolic, for all 

 the world like a healthy boy, giving expression to 

 his exuberant spirits. Soon the wind comes, and 

 away the Rose of Jericho rolls and tumbles; here 

 and there it looks for a damp spot on which it may 

 rest and begin life over. At last it finds a pool 

 of water, and here it stops, drinks its fill of water, 

 unfurls its branches, sends down its roots, unpacks 

 and shakes its seeds out on the damp sands, where 

 they may have plenty of water and will be given a 

 fair chance in life. Then the parent plant opens 

 fresh leaves and buds, and, donning a soft suit of 

 tender green in place of its old brown travelling 

 clothes, it settles down, wearied from its long and 

 strenuous exercise, to rest by the lovely, cool water. 

 And unfurling in this refreshing spot, it is trans- 

 formed from the dry brown ball into a tender green 

 plant. This power of resurrecting itself has given 

 it the appropriate name of Resurrection-plant. It 

 has been mentioned several times in the Bible, and 

 not infrequently in Eastern history. 



Another plant which has this habit of rolling is 

 the Selagenella convolvulata. This interesting 

 tumbler grows in South America. When it wishes 

 to travel to a new home, it rolls up in the form of a 

 ball and patiently awaits the first piping wind, to 



