THE ASSERTIVE PLANT 3 



plantlets are doubly strong in that they are not 

 only rooted on their own account, but are still 

 in receipt of assistance from the parent. The 

 chances of seedlings whose lot has been cast near 

 to one of these pushful species are doubtful in 

 the extreme. It is a version, in the vegetable 

 world, of the old story of the small tradesmen 

 with single shops struggling against the great 

 company with its hundred branches, each one of 

 which is supported from a central establishment. 

 Still further to the advantage of the spreading 

 plant is the fact that if any of the sections should 

 become detached, these enter upon the scene as 

 new individuals, quite capable of representing the 

 race on their own account. A large number of 

 perennials adopt this mode of increase in addition 

 to seed-bearing, and these are to be numbered 

 among the most successful of plants. 



There can be no doubt that the large number 

 of species which have resorted to climbing methods 

 have been induced to do so by the ever-pressing 

 need for room. That this enterprise has not been 

 in vain is a commonplace fact of the county- 

 side, for it is the Brambles, the Honeysuckles, 

 and the Bryonies which have long since captured 

 the hedges for their very own. Right down in 

 the darkness at the centre of the hedge we may 



