LUTHER BURBANK 



The yuccas, the aloes, the euphorbias, all have 

 counterparts in their families which, needing less 

 protection, show less bitterness, less poison, fewer 

 spines. 



And even rare cactus plants from protected 

 localities, and those of the less edible varieties, 

 give evidence, by the fewness of their spines, that 

 their family struggle has been less intense than 

 the struggle of the cactus which found itself 

 stranded in the bed of a former inland sea. 

 * * * * * 



Plants which have shown even greater adaptive 

 powers than the cactus are to be found in the well 

 known algae family. 



One branch of this family furnishes an apt 

 illustration of the scant nourishment to which a 

 plant may adapt itself. 



Microscopic in size, it lives its life on the upper 

 crust of the Arctic snow storing up enough energy 

 in the summer, when the sun's rays liquefy a thin 

 film of water on the icy surface, to sustain life in 

 a dormant stage during the northern winter's six 

 months of night. 



With nothing but the moisture yielded from 

 the snow, and what nutriment it can gather from 

 the air, this plant, called the red snow plant, 

 multiplies and prospers to the extent that it covers 

 whole hillsides of snow like a blanket covers 



[28] 



