124 
THE MORAL OF FLOWERS. 
travellers’ stories related of the mimosa, to which little 
credence is given. Some say the Indians extract a slow 
poison from the leaves and branches, which the root only 
can remedy: be this as it may, it has been found that 
no animal browses on it in the countries where it grows, 
which may perhaps give some countenance to the 
opinion. “ Sensitive plants were not unknown to the 
ancients; they are mentioned both by Theophrastus and 
Pliny; indeed, the Mimosa nilotica * is said by some 
writers to be the plant which, accidentally wreathing 
round a basket with a tile on it, suggested the idea of 
the Corinthian capital. The mode of growth in this 
species is singular ; ‘ the stems grow far apart, but the ' 
tops are flat, and spread abroad so as to touch each 
other, and form a verdant canopy, under which the 
traveller may walk many miles undisturbed by the rays 
of the most vertical sun.’ ” This is the Acacia vcra: it 
grows plentifully in Arabia Petraea and in Upper and 
Lower Egypt, ornamenting the sandy deserts with its 
airy, graceful foliage: yet its beauty is its least recom¬ 
mendation; for it supplies us with various valuable 
gums; the chief of which are gum arabic, frankincense, 
and succus acacia. 
* This, however, is a mistake ; the acanthus being the tiue oiiginatoi 
ol' that exquisitely graceful order. 
