THE ASSERTIVE PLANT 



839 



THE PRETTY PATTERN FORMED BY THE DWARF 

 PLUME THISTLE. 



contact, and from the upper surface new- 

 fronds arise. 



It is certain that plants do ah in their 

 power to discourage their neighbours. 

 The struggle for a place is so severe that 

 it is a case of everyone looking out for 

 himself. It is to be observed that many 

 species have a striking tendency to 

 cover in as much space as is possible 

 with their leaves. Perhaps one of the 

 chief reasons for the evolution of large 

 fohage is that thereby the subject can 

 more readily hold an unhampered 

 position. In some ways big leaves carry 

 with them great disadvantages ; they 

 are readily damaged, whilst a com- 

 paratively long wliile must elapse before 

 they can be replaced. Again, the big 

 surfaces they offer may at times bring 

 about a more speedy evaporation of 

 moisture than is desirable. But to 

 balance all this, the large-leaved plants 

 are never likely to be in difficulties for 

 want of room, simply because their 

 overshadowing growth will smother all 

 the adjacent species. 



Consider the pcjsition of seedlings coming 

 up iunong the stems of a good-sized Dock. 

 C(jmpletely sheltered from the light and 

 air by the great leaves, there is not the 

 slightest chance that they could ever 

 come to perfection. In pulling aside the 

 fohage of any large Dock plant we may 



find the remains of the unfortu- 

 nate seedhngs wliich have perished 

 under the sheltering leaves. The 

 British Dock is quite a pigmy be- 

 side the great American Gunneras. 

 These plants, which in their ap- 

 pearance are suggestive of vast 

 rhubarb, produce leaves that are 

 enoiTUous. Borne on long, stout 

 stems, which are at times as much 

 as ten feet in height, the great 

 leaves spread out in a canopy that 

 keeps an immense area of ground 

 in perpetual shade. The shelter 

 which the leaves afford may be 

 realised when it is stated that not 

 infrequently the huge organs are 

 six feet across. 



Very much the same kind of thing 



happens in the world of trees. When 



one sees the enoiTnous crop of acorns 



produced by the Oak, and watches 



the myriads of Sycamore seeds 



wliicli flutter to the ground in the early 



autumn, it is difficult to realise how it 



is that the whole country is not covered 



BLACK BKVONV CLIMBING U 1' BRACKEN. 



