HOME PLAXTS AND THEIR WA YS. 9 



delion and the anemone, have light downy appendages, or 

 little feathery tufts and crowns by which they are floated 

 along on the lightest breath of air, and enjoy, to their 

 hearts' content, long autumnal wanderings. These airy ap- 

 pendages are marvelously well adapted for the special pur- 

 pose of each plant — some but just large enough to waft the 

 tiny grain up the height of a mole-hill, others strong enough 

 to carry the seed of the cedar from the low valley to the 

 summit of Mount Lebanon. 



8. The proudest princes of the vegetable kingdom often 

 depend for their continuance on these little feathery tufts, 

 which but few observers are apt to notice. A recent writer 

 tells us that, a few years ago, the only palm-tree the city 

 of Paris could then boast of suddenly bore fruit. Botan- 

 ists were at a loss how to explain the apparent miracle, and 

 skeptics began to sneer, and declared that the laws of na- 

 ture had failed. An advertisement appeared in the papers, 

 inquiring for the unknown mate of the solitary tree. And 

 behold, in an obscure court-yard away off, there had lived, 

 unknown and unnoticed, another small palm ; it also had 

 blossomed apparently alone, and in vain — but a gentle 

 breeze had come, and carried its flower-dust to its distant 

 companion, and the first palm-fruit ever seen in France 

 was the result of this silent meditation. 



9. Reckless wanderers, also, there are among the plants, 

 who waste their substance, and wildly rove about the world. 

 The rose of Jericho, and a club-moss of Peru, are such er- 

 ratic idlers that wander from land to land. When they 

 have blossomed and borne fruit, and wdien the dry season 

 comes, they wither, fold their leaves together, and draw up 

 their roots, so as to form a light, little ball. In this form 

 they are driven hither and thither on the wings of the wind, 

 rolling along the plains in spirit-like dance, now whirling 

 in great circles about, now caught by an eddy and rising 

 suddenly high into the air. It is not until they reach a moist 



