XI 



A VI.RV IXTI I,Mc;i.XT PLANT 



PlvOlMJ'^ who haw nc'vci had occasion to 

 oliscMVc plants closely oltcn fall into the error 

 of re^aidin^ them as practically dead -dead, 

 that is to say, in the sense of never doinj^ or con- 

 trivinj^ anythin;^ active. Thev know, of conrsc, 

 that herbs and trees ^row and increase ; that they 

 Hower and fi nit ; that they pnt forth j^reen leaves 

 in spring and lo><e them ai^ani in antnnni. Hnt 

 they pictnre all this as taking place without the 

 knowledj^e or co-operation of the plant itself — 

 they think of it as done /<>/■ the tree or shrnb rather 

 than by it. Those, however, who have kept a close 

 watch upon living j^reen thinj^s in their native con- 

 dition have j4enerallv learned by slow dej^rees to 

 take cjuite a difleient view of jilant morals and 

 plant economy. They be^in to lind out in the 

 course of their observations that the life of a 

 herb is pretty nuich as the life of an animal in 

 almost everything save one small particular. The 

 plant, as a rule, is rooted to a simple spot ; the 

 animal, as a rule, is fiee and locomotive. 



Yet even this difference itself is not quite abso- 

 lute : for there are on the one hand locomotive 



plants, such as tliat quaint microscopic ve^^etable 



258 



