42 FLASMLKIMTS on XATrKK 



plants, iiiflecd, proceed inucli as tlie soldanclla 

 does in tlie matter of layinj^ by materials for future 

 growth ill the leaves, and usin^ these up in the act 

 of Howerinj^. Take, for example, the famous and 

 often somewhat exaj^j^erated case of the so-called 

 " aloe," or American aj^ave. It is conmionly said 

 that '• the tiowerinif of an aloe " takes place hut 

 once in a hundred years. This is a poetical fiction. 

 As a matter of fact, the aj^ave flowers on an average 

 after fifteen or twenty years, and then dies down 

 utterly. Every visitor to Italy or the Riviera knows 

 this hu^e plant well -a }4i<4antic hous-'-leek in form, 

 with its h'v^ spiny leaves and its points, sharp as a 

 needle, which defend it as by a bristling row of 

 bayonets. Now, the a^ave lavs bv its material for 

 future growth in the thickened base or lower portion 

 of its leaves ; it thus forms a hu^e rosette, very 

 much swollen anl eidarj^ed at the bottom. P'or 

 years it goes on with exemplary patience, collectinj^ 

 supplies for its one act of tl()werinj4 ; then at last, 

 feeling its time has come, it suddenly sends up a 

 huge stalk, or trunk, like a vast candelabrum, fifteen, 

 twenty, or even thirty feet high, and supporting at 

 its top a great bunch of big yellow blossoms. This 

 enormous stem, with its colossal cluster of branch- 

 ing blossoms, takes only a few weeks to grow ; and 

 as it rises and fiowers, or still more as the immense 

 capsules ripen their seeds, the bases of the leaves, 

 once swollen and thick, become by degrees flaccid 

 and empty. The stem and blossoms have drained 

 them dry. At last, as the seeds fall, the whole 

 plant dies away, having used itself up for ever in 



