Part 36

Before people had individual names, the savage people who lived in clans or tribes referred to themselves in the name of some natural object, usually an animal which they assumed as the name or emblem of the clan or tribe. These names never applied to one individual more than another, but only to the clan or tribe, so that everyone in a tribe which had taken the “wolf” for its emblem was known as “Wolf.” Later on they began to distinguish individuals by giving them additional names characteristic of the individual, such as “Lonely Wolf,” “Growling Wolf,” or other names. The name of this animal was then the emblem of one tribe. They, therefore, placed this emblem upon their bodies, their clothes, utensils, etc. Through this, these emblems also became at times idols of worship and so they erected poles upon which their emblems were engraved. The word totem is a North American Indian word meaning “family token.” The tribes called themselves after animals from which they believed themselves descended.

Where Does a Flower Get Its Perfume?

The perfume or smell of the flower comes from within the plant itself. The perfume arises from an oil which the plant makes, and just as there are many kinds of flowers, so almost every flower has a different smell. Of course, flowers belonging to the same family or species are likely to develop different smells. The oils produced are what are known as the volatile oils, which means “flying oils,” because, if extracted from the flower and placed in a bottle and the cork left out, they will vanish into the air. Without this quality we could not, of course, smell them at all.

Why Do Flowers Have Perfumes?

Man uses these oils to provide himself with perfumes, but the plant or flower has another purpose than this. The perfume is not made for man’s use, but for the use of the plant itself. In the plant and flower world the smell of the plant which is in the flower is a part of the scheme whereby plants reproduce themselves.

Every plant in order to reproduce itself must produce a seed. The flowers are in most cases the advance agent of the coming seed. Each flower produces within itself a little powder called the pollen, but as plants are like people--also male and female--they are dependent upon each other for the production of a perfect seed. Some of the pollen from the male plant must be mixed with the pollen of the female plant before a perfect seed results.

How Do Flowers Produce Seeds?

Naturally, the nearest male plant to a female plant may be quite some distance off. How, then, is the pollen from the male plant to mix with the pollen of the female plant? In some cases it is the wind which blows the pollen powder from one to the other, and this thus leaves the development of a perfect seed from a perfect flower open to chance. In the case of perfumed flowers, however, which are mostly low-growing plants, the wind cannot be depended upon. So nature gives to such plants the power to make the perfumed oil and the busy bee does the rest. The perfume being a flying oil rises up into the air and attracts the bee. He is gathering honey and visits in turn all the flowers to which he is attracted. He lights on a male flower and gathers in his honey, and incidentally acquires on his legs, without intending to do so, some of the pollen of the male flower. Then he flies about to the next flower, and to others, and sooner or later he will come across a female flower of the same kind as that from which he secured the pollen on his legs. When he thus enters the female flower, the pollen on his legs mixes with the pollen of the same kind of the female flower, and quite unintentionally the bee helps thus to make the perfect seed. It is not a part of a bee’s business to do this carrying. It only happens that he does this in connection with his regular business of gathering honey. It is a wonderful thing which may be noted here that the pollen from a male of any flower will not mix with the pollen of the female of any other kind of flower, but that the same kinds only have attractions for each other. Flowers are given these attractive perfumes in order that they may attract the bees and other insects in this way. The plants or flowers which grow closest to the ground have generally the strongest and most far-reaching smells. This is so that they will not be overlooked.

Why Are Leaves Not All the Same Shape?

Leaves are of different shapes because they belong to different families of plants or trees. They are a good deal like people in this respect. Hardly two people in the world look exactly alike, but there is a distinct family resemblance in members of the same family. It is difficult to say just what happens inside the tree to determine the shape of the leaf and that causes them to possess different shapes from others. The shape of the leaf is a mark of identification of the family to which the tree or plant belongs, just as you can tell from a dog’s ears and from other characteristics what his breeding has been. In the case of plants and trees however it is quite probable that the shape and texture of the leaves has been developed as the result of the conditions under which the plant grows. A plant or tree throws off oxygen and takes in carbonic acid gas through the surface of the leaves. To thrive and be healthy it must secure just the proper amount of this food and as the quantity of food taken in depends upon the amount of surface exposed through the leaves, each particular tree or plant has developed in its own direction in this respect until this feature of their structures has been adjusted properly to their needs. It is a good deal like the radiation of heat in your home.

Why Are Some Radiators Longer Than Others?

When the plumber gets ready to put in the radiators in the home he figures the cubic measurements of the room and then puts in a radiator, the outside surface of whose pipes, is in the right proportion to throw off sufficient heat to fill the room or heat all the air in the room. It requires a certain number of square inches of radiator surface to heat each cubic foot of air space and a good plumber can figure this to a nicety. If he puts in a radiator however that has not sufficient number of square inches on the outside of the pipes, the room will not be heated properly. In the same way, the trees, require that their leaves have a certain amount of square inches of surface space in proportion to the size of the tree, to enable them to do what is required of them and this is arranged by nature so that the trees grow naturally, and no doubt the shape of the leaves has something to do with this.

What Makes Roses Red?

All roses are not red. Some are white and others pink or of still another color. The color of the rose, and in fact the color of all flowers is due to the way they absorb and reflect the sunlight. In the case of the red rose, the something in the plant that determines the color, absorbs all the other colors in the sunlight and reflects the pure red rays and that makes the color of the red rose. You cannot see the color of any flower when it is perfectly dark. That is because they have no color of their own, but only the colors which they reflect when in the sunlight or some other light. The question of colors is more fully explained in another part of the book.

Why Do Plants and Trees Grow Up Instead of Down?

As a matter of fact plants and trees do grow downward as well as up. There is a part of each called the root whose business it is to grow down and take certain things necessary to the life of the tree out of the ground. But the part we see above the ground and which is the part we generally think of only when we think of plants or trees.

The tree or plant, in order to grow properly, and eventually produce flowers and perfect seeds, must have sunshine and carbonic acid gas, and it is the business of the leaves and other parts above the ground to get these out of the air for the good of the plant or tree. So they start to grow toward the sun. It is easy to prove how a plant will turn toward the light. Take notice of the plants in the flower pots at home. Set one of them on the window sill inside the window where the sun can shine on it and notice how quickly the leaves and branches will be bent over against the window pane. Turn it completely around then so that the plant leans away from the sunlight and watch it for a day or two. Before long you will find that it has not only straightened itself completely out but started to lean toward the window glass again so as to get as near the sun as possible. Most plants, if kept where the sunlight cannot touch them, will die. The sunlight is a necessary part of their lives.

What Becomes of the Plants and Flowers in Winter?

A great many, in fact the large percentage of plants, live only during one season. This kind of plant actually dies completely after, in the natural course of growth and flowering, it has produced its seed which is the method by which such plants are reproduced. Other plants only appear to die in the winter. Parts of them, such as the leaves and flowers actually die, but the roots and stalks of such plants do not die in winter. The part that represents the life in them goes to sleep and lies dormant until the light and warmth of summer bring forth the leaves and flowers again.

The flowers, however, always die and the same flowers never appear again but others just like them appear in their places.

Even in hot countries where there is no winter, the plants must go through a period of rest or sleep, although this change is not so marked in plants which grow in these hot countries.

How Can Some Plants Climb a Smooth Wall?

To get at the answer to this question, we should pick out one kind of plant like the creeping ivy vine. If we examine same as it climbs a brick wall, we find that it sends out little shoots which attach themselves around the little rough places in the bricks of the wall which, if examined under a microscope are quite large apparently--at least they are large enough for the tiny creepers of the ivy to hold on to. Of course, if there were only one little “shoot” to reach out and take hold of the rough spots in the wall, the vine could not cling to the wall, but the vine puts out a great many of these shoots--which it would perhaps be best to call “clingers” and as each helps a little to hold on, the great number all holding on together enable a quite heavy vine to hang on to an apparently smooth wall.

Some vines have actually the ability to send out little suckers which are made on the same principle as the boys’ sucker (a circular piece of leather with string attached to the middle with which a boy can pick up stones) and such plants can cling to and climb up an almost perfectly smooth wall.

What Are the Thorns on Roses and Other Plants Good For?

The thorns of roses and other plants which have thorns originally grew for the purpose of enabling the plants to fasten themselves on to other things thus helping them to climb. Many plants with thorns are permitted to grow now in places where they can use their thorns for climbing but many others with thorns are cut down by the gardener to make the plants shapely and to make them produce more flowers and less branches, but they keep on growing their thorns just the same.

Do Plants Breathe?

Yes, indeed, plants do breathe. To breathe is just as important to the life of a plant as it is to a boy or girl. Plants do not have lungs like boys and girls and grown up people, but they find it necessary to breathe. You know, of course, that fishes breathe, but they haven’t any lungs either, even though they belong to the animal kingdom. Fishes do not, however, breathe the air in the same form as we do because they must use the air which they find in the water. That is why we say fishes drown when on the land. They cannot breathe air in the form in which we are able to use it any more than people can breathe the air in the water.