84 THE LIFE OF THE PLANT 



increase in substance during that period, but on the 

 contrary expends its substance. During germination 

 it is only transformation which takes place, and not 

 assimilation. Consequently, we have arrived at the 

 conclusion that the phenomena of the assimilation of 

 nutrient substances and the phenomena of growth do 

 not always take place simultaneously ; and the period of 

 germination may be best characterised by saying that 

 it is a period of growth without assimilation. 



This period in the life of the plant may be more or 

 less compared to the period of education and develop- 

 ment in man. Both plant and man are incapable 

 of independent and productive activity before they 

 reach the close of that period. They exist at the 

 expense of stores carefully accumulated by the preceding 

 generation, though man can scarcely be said to gain by 

 the comparison ; on the contrary, it is the plant that 

 sets an example worthy to be followed. On the one 

 hand plant-parents, after having accumulated a modest 

 inheritance, do not seek to secure an idle and careless 

 existence for their children ; they simply endow them 

 with what is strictly necessary for their development 

 and well-being ; and, on the other hand, plant-children 

 do not dissipate their inheritance : they spend it on their 

 proper development and the generation of energy indis- 

 pensable for the first struggle for life that awaits them. 



At the close of this period we find the plant already 

 provided with organs well formed and quite ready for 

 use. It is very curious that certain plants pass the 

 whole period of germination without separating from 

 the parent plant. Such is Rhizophora Mangle, which 

 grows on the shores of the tropical seas, on strips of land 

 generally covered at high tide. The seeds of this plant 

 germinate in the fruit and form long, hea^'y, and sharp- 

 pointed roots while still growing upon the maternal 

 plant. After having reached a certain stage of develop- 

 ment they break away, and falling vertically stick by 



