38 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



beard and fresh charge his pipe, while he pours into the 

 eager ears of some untraveled novice legends about this 

 wonderful rose — legends replete with fairy romance, in 

 which almost invariably a certain unmentionable gentle- 

 man comes in for a volley of invectives, as being the insti- 

 gator of this mysterious freak of nature. 



8. The first symptom the rose of Jericho gives of an 

 approaching tour is the shedding of all her leaves ; the 

 branches then collapse, apj^arently wither, and roll them- 

 selves firmly into the shape of a ball. Like the fairies that 

 traveled in nut-shells, this plant ensconces itself in its own 

 frame-work of a convenient shape, size, and weight for un- 

 dertaking the necessary journey. Not long has the flower 

 assumed this shape when strong land-breezes sweep over 

 the land, blowing hot and fiercely toward the ocean. In 

 their onward course, these land-winds uproot and carry 

 with them the bulbs or frame-work of our rose ; and, once 

 uprooted, these are tossed and blown over many and many 

 a dreary mile of desert sand, till they are finally whirled 

 up into the air, and swept over the coast into the ocean. 



9. Soon after the little plant comes into contact with 

 the water, it unpacks again, unfolds itself, expands its 

 branches, and expels its seeds from the seed-vessels. Then, 

 I presume, the mother -plant finishes her career, or is 

 stranded a wreck upon the sea-beach. However this may 

 be, it seems evident that the seeds, after having been thor- 

 oughly saturated with water, are brought back by the 

 waves, and cast high and dry upon the beach. When the 

 westerly winds set in with violence from the sea they carry 

 these seeds back with them, scattering them far and wide 

 over the desert, and among inhabited lands ; and so surely 

 as the spring-time comes round will the desolate borders of 

 the desert be enlivened by the tiny blossoms of the rose of 

 Jericho. 



Chambers's Journal. 



