CHAPTER IX 



GARDENS OF THE SEA 



The flowers of the sea are flowers more in 

 appearance than in reality. Seen in masses 

 through the clear water they look like beds of 

 mountain pinks or fields of ferns or hill sides 

 of wild asters, with moss and ice plant and 

 cactus growths scattered between ; but the like- 

 ness is superficial. The plants are very differ- 

 ent from those known on the earth. They have 

 no root, they absorb nothing from the soil, they 

 require neither rain nor air, and some of them 

 manage to exist with little or no light. There 

 are no blossoming forms, no leaves, seldom 

 any fruit ; and while there are growths having 

 a foothold on the bottom that rise up through 

 a thousand feet of water to float ball-shaped 

 tangles upon the surface, yet in form they are 

 not at all like trees. The " trunk " that climbs 

 upward so many feet is no larger than one's 

 finger and the bunch of weed at the surface 

 that makes a sleeping place for the sea otter 



177 



Plant life 

 of the sea. 



Different 

 growl) IS 

 from those 

 of the land. 



