SEA THRIFT. 



SEA THRIFT {Statice ■maritima).SYUVKT:'iiY. 



" From the border lines, 

 Composed of daisy and resplendent Thrift, 

 Flowers straggling forth had on those paths encroached. 

 Which they were used to deck."— Wordsworth. 



The generic name of this' plant is Greek, and denotes 

 that which has the property of fixing, uniting, and retain- 

 ing. The flowers are small, very numerous, turning towards 

 the sky, forming pretty purple blue spikes. They are very 

 ornamental border flowers, but require considerable care. 

 Naturally the plants prefer marshy places, and especially 

 the shores of the sea, where they seem to bind the sands 

 together by their abundant roots. 



THE SENSITIVE PLANT {Mimosa sensitiva).— 

 Bashfulness. 



The sensitive plant seems to shrink from under the hand 

 when about to touch it. At the slightest shock the leaflets 

 bend one towards another in succession. Then the common 

 leaf stalk, if the plant be low, bends down to the earth. A 

 cloud passing between it and the sun suffices to change the 

 position of the leaves and the whole appearance of the plant. 

 The ancients observed the phenomenon. Pliny speaks of it, 

 but neither Pliny, nor yet modern botanists have been able 

 satisfactorily to explain it. A Dr. Dutrochet made a variety 



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