THE ASSERTIVE PLANT 



841 



has been devised on definite lines, and 

 with a mathematical precision. Each 

 leaf has its exact place, and when 

 de\-elopment is unhindered by any re- 

 straining influence the exactitude of the 

 system becomes very apparent. In a 

 well-developed Dandehon, where the 

 growth is quite free, a most perfect 



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The Dwarf Plume Thistle, a plant 

 commonly found in meadows near the 

 coast in the south of England, has proved 

 itself to be a most pernicious weed from 

 the farmer's point of view. The leaf 

 arrangement round the central stem 

 which bears the short-stalked flower, 

 really forms a most attractive pattern, 



B % 



4 I f 



PROTECTIVE SCALES FROM CHESTNUT BUD. 



rosette is often foiTned, each leaf falhng 

 into its place with a wonderful regularity. 

 The httle Shepherd's Purse, a very 

 common cruciferous weed, which sends 

 its clusters of dainty white blossoms up 

 to a considerable height, employs the 

 greater part of its foliage in covering 

 the ground in its immediate vicinity. 

 Examples of this plant will easily spread 

 over a rough circle of land which is as 

 much as nine or twelve inches in diameter. 

 Through the dense, matted growth of 

 leaves formed by these plants, there is 

 Uttle chance that any smaller species 

 could hope to make headway. 



and one which shows plainly by what a 

 rigid code of rules the plant is designed. 

 From the agriculturist's outlook, how- 

 ever, the Dwarf Plume Thistle is anything 

 but a welcome addition to the pasture 

 land. 



As a strong-growing perennial, when 

 once the plant has secured a hold, its 

 method of " starring " is very pre- 

 judicial to the growth of tender grasses 

 and small herbs. None of these less 

 robust plants can possibly make any 

 headway beneath the clinging leaves of 

 the thistle. 



S. Leonard Bastin. 



107 



