12 WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 



covered with these trees. A considerable number 

 of the seeds, it is true, are destroyed by the wild 

 animals and birds of the forest, but after all only 

 a small number are accounted for in this way. 

 Probably the majority of the seeds germinate, 

 and even grow into little plants during the first 

 few weeks of mild spring weather, before the 

 forest is clad with its summer foliage. But it is 

 only a very few which get beyond the start, for 

 under the dense shade thrown by the clustering 

 leaves above no development is possible ; and 

 more often than not it is the spreading branches 

 of the parent tree which bring about the destruc- 

 tion of its own offspring. 



Many plants which flower in the late spring 

 might easily be smothered out of existence had 

 they not been enabled to make special provision 

 against such a contingency. With the arrival of 

 the really warm weather the countless seeds 

 which have been lying dormant all the winter 

 start to germinate. In this connection a curious 

 phase in the life of the Primrose is the habit of 

 " flopping " its foliage after blooming time. As 

 one of the earliest of our spring-flowering species, 

 the Primrose has a good start over the rank- 

 growing weeds which will not put in an appear- 

 ance until the early summer. But as the last of 



