32 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
Dimarpholays, a vine resembling the gourd, look 
precisely like small dead branches or twigs. One 
kind of Scorpiurus produces pods that to the eye 
are centipedes; another species produces worms or 
caterpillars! 
Plants simulate the odours and perfumes as well 
as the forms and colours of “things which they are 
not Some simulate the odour of pepper, of 
cheese, cucumbers, roast beef, sour milk; and oth- 
ers, like the carrion plant, or cuckoo-pint, smell 
like rotten and decaying flesh; still others, like the 
roots of the orris, give forth a delightful perfume. 
The dragon arum, a native of southern Europe, 
arrays itself in the most gorgeous costume, whose 
regal splendour challenges the proudest of the 
floral kingdom; and, yet, as soon as the spadix ap- 
pears, with its black silky dagger, the plant gives 
forth a terrible odour which attracts large num- 
bers of insects, that aid in distributing its pollen. 
The American skunk-cabbage is another example 
of a plant that attracts the attention of flies and 
insects by imitating the odour of decaying flesh. 
No doubt, owing to its early appearance in the 
spring, if it did not have this offensive odour it 
would be quite neglected by the few early insects 
which have ventured out before the snow disap- 
pears from the ground. 
29 
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