SYMBIOSIS OF THE HEATHER 



RECENTLY, in a publication named "The Quiv- 

 er," the Rev. Dr. Hugh Macmillan, who, as 

 will be already inferred, has given consider- 

 able study to the Heather plant, wrote as follows on 

 the parasitical nature, or what scientists term "sym- 

 biosis," of the Calluna. 



He says : "In the bright autumn days the Scot- 

 tish moorlands are covered from end to end with 

 crimson Heather in full bloom. The Heather is one 

 of the hardiest of plants, and is so well adapted to 

 its growing place that we cannot imagine the moor- 

 lands without it. It looks as if it belonged to the 

 bleak, mist-drenched soil, and grew out of it of its 

 own accord. We naturally suppose that each Heather 

 bush of the myriads upon which we gaze supports 

 itself by means of its own roots, taking out of the 

 brown peat by its own vital powers, in the exer- 

 cise of its own special functions, the nourishment 

 which it needs. Of all plants, the Heather, we should 

 suppose, would be the most independent and self- 

 sustaining, growing as it does so luxuriantly in such 

 desolate situations. But science tells us that this is 

 not the case. The Heather is rooted, not in the dead 

 peat, but in the living mycelial material in which its 

 rootlets are wrapped up. It cannot nourish itself, but 

 must be nourished by a foster-parent, so to speak, 

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