THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



7 



rain falls and frequently there is a distinct rainy season during 

 which there is sufficient moisture to enable a large number 

 of annuals to spring up, flower and ripen their seeds before 

 it dries up — if they are quick about it. Such plants are not 

 to be classed with xerophytes. True xerophytes are plants 

 that can live year after year in regions where rain falls only 

 occasionally and where, for the greater part of each year, all 

 the conditions of a desert are present. During the infrequent 

 rains they manage to store up enough water to tide them over 

 the dry seaso-ns. 



A xerophyte is Nature's last word in the conservation of water. 



There are many other situations in which the conditions 

 which make for xerophytism in plants prevail. Our Northern 

 States in winter are essentially deserts. There is plenty of 

 water in the soil, it is true, but locked up in the form of ice 



