XIV 
PLANTS THAT PRODUCE LIGHTS; PLANTS THAT SEE 
’Tis said at Summer’s evening hour, 
Flashes the golden-coloured flower, 
A fair electric flame. 
—CoLeERinceE. 
HOULD one walk through a dark forest at 
night, especially in the tropics, one would fre- 
quently see strange lights among the foliage and 
decaying leaves. These lights are really luminous 
leaves, and may be of the elm, oak, cottonwood, or 
beech. If closely examined such leaves prove to be 
damp, and most of them are yellow and covered 
with spots. The cause of the leaf’s luminosity is not 
due to the substance of the leaf itself, but to a 
fungous growth on the leaf. 
There are numerous light-producing fungi and 
alge; the light-developing qualities of these plants 
being dependent upon the amount of oxygen they 
contain. There are also luminous mushrooms. 
Perhaps this production of light may be their 
method of attracting the beetles, moths, and gnats 
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