THE MARRIAGE OF PLANTS 171 



quantities of water to supply the millions of leaves 

 above. 



Plants have not always had the same manner 

 of eating, drinking, and sleeping; nor have they al- 

 ways had the same marriage customs as now. Just 

 as the customs of mankind change with the passing 

 of ages, some becoming more civilised and some 

 less, so do plant customs change, some for a better 

 civilisation and some, like the dodder and the Indian 

 pipe, actually becoming degenerated. 



Before the marriage takes place in the plant 

 world there is a brief but no less real courtship! 

 The happy and gallant wooer adorns himself gor- 

 geously with brilliant flowers each having powdered 

 faces calling to his love on every breeze. He must 

 be very beautiful and charming, or she will not 

 respond to his love by rustling her silken and per- 

 fumed leaves! 



This, of course, refers to marriages among the 

 larger and more developed plants. In most of 

 these marriages many happy children are born in 

 the form of seeds ; and these children are well sup- 

 plied by the fond mother with food and clothing 

 before they are sent out into the big world. 



Among the lower, or less developed, plants, the 

 marriage customs are very simple and crude. In 

 some of the water plants, like certain forms of 



