LESSON XXX.
STILL IN THE WONDER GROVE.
“Thus the seerWith vision clearSees forms appear and disappear;In the perpetual round of strangeMysterious change.”
“Thus the seerWith vision clearSees forms appear and disappear;In the perpetual round of strangeMysterious change.”
“Thus the seerWith vision clearSees forms appear and disappear;In the perpetual round of strangeMysterious change.”
“Thus the seer
With vision clear
Sees forms appear and disappear;
In the perpetual round of strange
Mysterious change.”
—Longfellow.
The wonders of our grove are not yet exhausted. Indeed we might spend a lifetime here, if we studied thoroughly its curiosities. We can only look cursorily at a few more marvellous plants.
Here is a tree from Jamaica, called the life tree because it grows so readily, and is so tenacious of existence. The life tree will grow in a wet place or in a dry one; it cannot be killed by cutting down, for every fibre of its roots seems to possess power to renew the tree. Cut the leaves from the plant one by one, and where you drop them on the ground they grow, sending forth a root from any one of the severed ribs or veins. Cut the leaves into fragments and the fragments will grow.
This power in leaves to send forth rootlets and start a new plant, is not confined to the life tree. Gardeners willtell you that the plants of the begonia tribe are grown by cutting off a portion of one of the large handsome leaves which distinguish the begonias, and sticking it in a little damp sandy soil. It soon roots and sends up vigorous leaf-stems.
Beside the life tree behold its complement the death plant of Java, called by the Javanese the kali-mujah. This is a beautiful plant, growing nearly four feet high, with long, slender stems having upon them thorns an inch in length. These stems are crowded with broad leaves, thick, smooth as satin, heart-shaped, on one side a delicate emerald green, and on the other a vivid crimson marked with cream-color. From the midst of the leaf-stems rise the flower scapes, well guarded about the blossom with fine, briar-like thorns. The blossoms are milk-white, about the size and shape of a large cup. These beautiful flowers pour out a strong perfume, which, though agreeable, is overpowering and has poisonous qualities. If persons inhale this fragrance for several minutes, they become faint, and then unconscious; if shut up with the plant in a close room even a strong man would soon die.
Insects that hover about the flower fall dead, and birds that come, attracted by its red, white, and green splendors, wheel dizzily about it and drop unconscious. Even at a distance of three feet the breath of the kali-mujah will kill a bird or insect, and will give a man a severe headache with convulsive twitching of the muscles of the face. Other plants seem to avoid the kali-mujah, for none will grow in its vicinity.
But here is a more cheerful specimen. It should be thejoy of all boys,—the whistling tree from Nubia. Day and night, year in and year out, this merry tree whistles tunes of its own composing—chorister of trees! The leaves and stems are so constructed that this tree becomes a shrill musical instrument, whistling loud and clear, even when no wind seems to be stirring. We have all noticed the shiver and murmur in a grove of pines, even in the hot stillness of a summer noontide; the whistling tree like the pine never ceases its peculiar music.
Our next wonder plant grows in water; it is a cousin of our white pond-lily, it is theVictoria regiawhich grows in still pools in the Amazon region. The leaves are round, and are from six to eight feet in diameter. They are sharply turned up at the edge to form a rim, so that each leaf is like a plate, the under surface is crimson, the upper surface green with fine lines; on this elegant plate the flower lies.
Let us watch a blossom open. About half-past eight in the evening the bud has slowly lifted itself above the pond, where it had grown submerged. Once free from the water it shakes and quivers, as if endowed with conscious life, and presently from the folded flower one petal flies open; then for a little it rests; then is again agitated, and a second petal expands. Then the agitation continues, the bud flutters and trembles, and petal after petal spreads out; then a dozen at a time are released from their close clasping, and at last behold the great flower, two feet wide across its snow and gold centre, a hundred snow-white petals composing the perfected bloom. From the whole blossom exhales a delicate, rich,delicious perfume, harmless as the breath of violets. The sun rises; the white petals bend together, and, rocked on the parent pool, theVictoria regiasleeps.
But as night draws on again the royal lily awakes. Now it is in its perfection; the perfume is more subtle; the petals take a flush of the palest pink; it rocks on the water and queens it through the night. And so with a few waking and sleeping nights and days, the royal lily’s life is done.[62]When the splendid blossoms and the vast green leaves have perished the seed boxes or pods of the plant rise above the water and ripen, and the Indians call them water maize, and eat them.
Next to the lovely Regia let us place the century plant. The old notion was that this “American aloe” bloomed only after one hundred years of growth.Agave Americanais its true name, and when growing in a cool climate it is very slow in attaining maturity. At any time between ten and seventy years of age, it may send up a very tall flower stalk, covered with large greenish yellow blossoms, which continue open for several months. As soon as it has finished flowering it dies.
There are many members of the cactus and orchid families which might appropriately be planted in our grove of wonders, to light it up with their beauty, and amaze us with the marvels of their structure. But for that matter not a plant that grows lacks mysteries and marvels.
Of all strange, abnormal plants the carnivorous, or flesh-eating,are the most singular. Several members of this family were described in Nature Reader, No. 3. Those were all small and pretty plants, green with dull red or yellow marks or tinges, and fatal only to little insects which were lured by the glittering bait of honey drops spread out for them.
Now let us introduce a native of Australia, called the stinging tree. No wasp, or hornet, ever had a sharper sting. Dreaded by all who know it, the stinging tree is yet a beautiful object. It is only twelve feet high and has dark, glossy, green leaves, and large bunches of scarlet berries. The tree grows always in a cone shape and reminds one of a Christmas-tree lighted with red candles. But at the tip of each projection of the green, saucer-shaped leaf grows a deadly thorn. The least touch of one of these thorns fills a man or beast with a terrible pain. Beasts act as if seized with hydrophobia; human beings stung by this tree are partly paralyzed, and suffer agony for days, or even weeks. The dry leaf, wind-blown, is able to effect as serious a sting as the leaf still on the cruel tree. Dogs and horses that have come in contact with one of these thorns must be killed at once, as in their pain they become dangerous.
Let us turn from this cruel stinging tree to one more useful and pleasant, the soap tree of Chili. This is a large, handsome tree with dark green leaves, casting a delightful shade. When the rough, outer bark is stripped away, behold under it a smooth, white bark, which, ground to powder, affords a soap nearly as good as any that you can buy. Who need have dirty hands or soiled clothing when a soap tree grows close beside his door? “Odd bark that,” do you say?Come to this next tree and we will show you a yet more wonderful bark.
Have you any jugs or bottles to cork? Do you want some cork soles? Here is the tree on which they grow. This is the great cork tree of Spain. It is found in many parts of South Europe and on the North African coast, but Spain is the land where cork collecting is a chief industry. When you take a cork in your hand, let it be as the enchanted stone, to carry you away to the warm hills of Spain, where you may see the laughing, black-eyed Spanish boys and girls running about to help the cork gatherers.
Our cork tree is thirty feet high, with well-spread branches, and a trunk very stout in proportion to the size of the tree. This trunk is covered with a thick, tough, elastic bark, which is constantly increased from within, growing thicker and thicker. When the trees are between fifteen and twenty years old, the bark is stripped off for the first time. This first bark is coarse and is used only for tanning, and for rough work. After eight or ten years the bark is stripped off again, and this time it is finer, and good enough for net-floats, and other coarse work, as life-preservers and buoys.
However, in eight or ten years more another coat can be stripped off, and this is fine and beautiful cork that will bring a good price. A cork tree will live for one hundred and fifty years, during which time the bark may be regularly stripped at intervals of eight or ten years. The stripping is done in July and August by making a cut entirely around the stem, just above the ground, and a second cut just below the branches, then three cuts are made lengthwisethe tree, and the bark is taken off in long strips. The greatest care is used to avoid injuring the inner bark. These slabs of bark are heated and slightly scorched; this causes them to flatten, closes up the pores, and gives toughness to the whole material. What should we do without cork for jackets, cork legs and arms, cork apparatus in lifeboats, and other appliances for saving people from drowning? Our cork tree with its marvellous bark is by no means the least valuable specimen in our wonder grove.
What is this beautiful tree, tall and stately, with delicate oblong leaves, lovely flowers, and fruit like a plum? It is the tree from which our gutta percha comes, and without that valuable product what should we do for many instruments, for piping, and for a good covering for telegraph wires? As the Chinese and Malays always cut down these noble trees to get the juice which hardens into gutta percha, sometimes three or four millions of the trees are killed each year. At that rate they will all soon be gone.
What next? Why, the tree that bears india-rubber toys, overshoes, and water-proof coats. By good luck the people of South America, Central America, Asia, and Africa, where the varieties of india-rubber, or caoutchouc, producing trees are found, have learned to tap the trees and take care of them and do not kill them for a single harvest. The rubber is the hardened juice of the tree; when it first runs out it is like milk or cream, and hardens very quickly. It is sent to market in flat cakes called “biscuits.” Trees producing various kinds of “rubber” abound in most tropical countries.
Now, finally, here is yet another specimen in our grove,a small shrub, only a tree by courtesy, but one of the wonders of the world, nevertheless, and happily a harmless curiosity,—if let alone! This is the electric plant.
We have long known of the electric eel, and the electric fish, that can give a powerful shock to anything touching them. A French naturalist has found and investigated, in the forests of India, a shrub endowed with amazing magnetic powers. At a distance of six yards it affects the magnetic needle.
If you break a leaf from the plant, you receive a powerful shock. Touch it with the tips of your fingers, and you receive a shock as from an induction coil. No birds or insects light upon it, they know the result too well; it would be certain death. How do birds and insects learn what is safe and what is dangerous for them to do? I cannot tell you.
No electric metals are found in the vicinity of this shrub. The electricity belongs solely to the plant. At two in the afternoon the electricity is at its height; at night the plant nearly loses its curious properties. This is no doubt owing to the dewy dampness of night; for during a rain the electricity is also lost, and one can then break off a leaf with impunity. During an electric storm its intensity redoubles, so that the shrub becomes nearly as dangerous as an electric wire.
FOOTNOTES:[62]Some of the highest authorities state that in its native waters the Regia blossom lasts but one day and two nights.
[62]Some of the highest authorities state that in its native waters the Regia blossom lasts but one day and two nights.
[62]Some of the highest authorities state that in its native waters the Regia blossom lasts but one day and two nights.