January, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 25 
The Mimicry of Plants 
By S. Leonard Bastin 
T IS often in the very beginnings of a 
being’s existence that the most need arises 
for special protective means, and it is there- 
fore not surprising to find that quite a num- 
ber of seeds are examples of mimicry. 
Ass) Doubtless many of these resemblances are 
purely accidental, but in others one can not 
but think that there is a real purpose in the simulation. 
Many seed vessels bear an astonishing likeness to beetles 
and other insects, one of the best known 
perhaps being that of the castor oil 
plant (Ricinus). This, although not 
large enough to make an effective pho- 
tograph, is singularly suggestive of the 
widely distributed Coccinella beetles 
and their allies. The large seeds of 
the genus Chelonospermum, from the 
Pacific Islands, are wonderfully like 
some of the huge tropical Coleoptera. 
As Lord Avebury has pointed out, these 
resemblances might well benefit the 
plants in one of two ways. It might 
be an advantage for the smaller kinds 
of seeds to be swallowed by birds, the 
external coating being able to with- 
stand the action of the digestive juices. 
It is not difficult to conceive that a 
large number of seeds mimicking 
beetles in appearance must be eaten by 
birds, under the impression that the 
morsel is a succulent insect. On the 
other hand, the big seeds, such as those 
of Chelonospermum, might escape unwelcome attention by 
their likeness to insects. Graminivorous birds, which would 
tear the seeds in pieces and destroy them, mistaking the 
vessels for formidable beetles, would avoid tackling them, 
and thus they would remain untouched. 
Some of the most amazing plants in the world are certainly 
those to be numbered among the South African Mesembryan- 
themums. If there is nothing in the theory of protective 
resemblance as applied to plants, these quite defy all explana- 
tion. Glance at the accompanying photograph of a potted 
Some species of Iris are called ‘‘roast beef ’’ plants 
from the odor they emit 
specimen of Mesembryanthemum truncatum. It is abso- 
lutely impossible to distinguish between the succulent shoots 
which form the plant and the pebbles surrounding it. The 
very coloring of this strange specimen is devised so as to 
further the illusion. In another species, although it does not 
make quite so striking a photograph, the resemblance is none 
the less remarkable in the living plant. It is necessary to con- 
sider the conditions under which these strange plants live to 
find a satisfactory reason for this simulation of rock and 
stone. Perhaps there are no two re- 
gions in the world so much alike as the 
desert lands of South Africa and those 
of New Mexico and Arizona. In both 
these districts vegetation can only exist 
by special modifications of growth; 
these usually take the form of a reduc- 
tion or total abandonment of foliage 
and evolution of thick, fleshy stems. 
Now succulent plants, storing up a 
quantity of sweet juice for their own 
consumption, are always liable to the 
attack of parched and thirsty animals 
in a dry country. The American Cacti 
are armed with terrific arrays of thorns, 
but the African Mesembryanthemums 
have a stranger, but quite as effective, 
mode of protection. These ingenious 
plants simply rely on not being seen at 
all, and it is likely that in their extraor- 
dinary simulation of environment there 
is a security upon which it would not be 
easy to improve. 
It is very important on occasion that certain plants should 
be able to advertise their presence. Somehow or other a vast 
number of species have become more or less entirely de- 
pendent upon the good offices of insects to assist them in their 
scheme of fertilization. Of course, the insect goes to the 
flower solely for what he can get, or imagines he will find 
there. The great thing from the plant’s point of. view is to 
induce the visitor to pay his call. To this end it is proved that 
some plants in their flowers aim at a definite simulation 
of carrion-matter which is calculated to attract hordes of 
The dragon Arum, a huge crimson flower 
with a scent of decaying meat 
An orchid resembling a moth. The 
Catasetum from South America 
The Aristolochias is strongly suggestive 
of decaying meat 
