50 PICTURING MIRACLES 



while the pistil grows rapidly into the seed pod 

 within the next three days. These growth move- 

 ments showing the petals waving back and forth are 

 visible only in lapse-time motion picture work, and 

 might well give the student of plant life pause to 

 ponder the why and wherefore, for every movement 

 has its meaning if we can but reason it out, in that 

 continuous struggle of carrying on and of reproduc- 

 tion. 



The Washingtonian Sierra Lily. You will find this 

 Lily up in the higher mountains at elevations of 

 seven or eight thousand feet. It grows up through 

 the chinquapin and the manzanita brush. Often they 

 are eight or ten feet high with a dozen blossoms on 

 a single stem. The slightly greenish white blossoms 

 are like most lilies in opening, the petals clinging to- 

 gether at the tip till the pressure gets so great they 

 fly apart and the blossoms suddenly open. This 

 Sierra Lily is very regular in its habits. Almost at 

 eight in the evening that intensely interesting period 

 happens and I know of nothing more absorbing than 

 to watch that opening struggle. The fingerlong petals 

 split between each one of them and the bud often 

 gets twice as large in diameter, arching up in the 

 center. You sit breathlessly watching, wondering 

 how soon the petals are going to fly apart at the tip. 

 Sometimes only one will break loose but usually all 



