Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/185

Rh the surface or by extending above it, not only from numerous animals, but they have no competition with others which can only grow on dry or moist soil.

Aquatics and marine plants and algae are also protected from extremes of cold and heat. During the winter of a cold or temperate climate the rootstocks and buds severed from the tips or branches, and even the entire plant of some species, remain safe and dormant in the mud at the bottom, ready on the approach of mild weather to begin growing again.

Some are amphibious, able to thrive when the land is flooded or when the floods have subsided. Plants with such habits have little competition.

By climbing Trees and Bushes Many Vines get beyond the Reach of Cattle.—A considerable number of plants practise economy by growing slender stems instead of producing large tree-trunks for self-support.

Great numbers of climbing plants or vines are favored above some others in their ability to reach the light and thrive, even though their stems are very weak and slender. This habit brings most of the leaves and flowers of many of them beyond the reach of cattle and other herbivores.

Plant Traps in the Water catch Fish and Worms to eat.—A few plants not only defend themselves, but are aggressive fighters because they put to good use the animals they capture.

The bladderwort is a water plant and catches much of its food. Underneath the surface of the water in which the plant floats are a number of lax, leafy branches spread out in all directions and attached to these are large numbers of little flattened sacks or bladders, sometimes one sixth of an inch long. The small end of each little bladder is surrounded by a cluster of bristles forming a sort of hollow funnel leading into the mouth below, and this is covered inside by a perfect little trap door, which fits closely, but opens with the least