PLANT SOCIETIES 



397 



which roll to reduce the 

 surface and have, in ad- 

 dition, a coating of hairs, 

 both devices for retard- 

 ing transpiration. 



Most of the plants 

 which we see and which 

 live where there are no 

 great extremes of heat 

 or cold and where it is 

 neither wet nor dry are 

 called mesophytes (mez'o- 

 fites : Greek, mesos, 

 middle ; phi/ton, plant). 

 They have few charac- 

 teristics in common, but 

 all have roots suited to 

 the soil in which they grow, and leaves which in shape 

 and arrangement serve the purposes of cadi plant better 



Figure 436. — Lady Slipper. 



Figure 437. — Long-spurri 



