THE FIG-MAUIGOLD TRIBE. 



65 



of drought, its texture becomes almost woody, its 

 branches curve up into a sort of ball, the valves of 

 its pods are closed, and the plant holds to the soil by 

 nothing but a root without fibres. In this state, the 

 wind, always so powerful on plains of sand, tears up 

 the dry ball, and rolls it upon the desert. If in the 

 course of its violent transmission the ball is thrown 

 upon a pool of water, then humidity is promptly ab- 

 sorbed by the woody tissue, the branches unfold, 

 and the seed-vessels open ; the seeds, which, if they 

 had been dropped upon the dry sand, would never have 

 germinated, sow themselves naturally in the moist 

 soil, where they are sure to develope, and the young 

 brood to be nourished. And in this way, a plant, to 

 which the most silly superstition has given celebrity, 

 really presents a truly marvellous phenomenon in its 

 organization. Specimens of this curious production are 

 sometimes brought from Palestine, where it is called 

 Kaf Maryam, and, although they may be many years 

 old, will, if placed in water, start, as it were, from their 

 slumbers, stretch out their arms, straighten their 

 leaves, and assume all the appearance of plants sud- 

 denly raised from the dead. 



With regard to the affinities of the Fig-Marigold 

 Tribe, it is obvious that generally they are with all the 

 assemblages having both petals and sepals, many sta- 

 mens, and an inferior ovary; such, for instance, as the 

 M}Ttle Tribe, and the Cactus Tribe ; but it is espe- 

 cially with the latter that its consanguinity is most 

 near ; and it is not a little remarkable, that in the 

 manner in which its fruit is constructed, and the ovules 



VOL. ]I. F 



