Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-29
On THE KAROO.
Some Queer Plants That Flourish In
DrOuthY South Africa

Some Queer Plants That Flourish In
Drouthy south Africa.
In the spring In the years when rain has
fallen for two months the Karoo is
flower garden says the Fortnightly Review.
As far as the eye can reach stretch
blotches Of white and yellow and purple
hg flowers. Every foot of Karoo sand is
broken up by small towering lilies and
wax flowers. In space of few feet square
you may sometimes gather fifty kinds. In
the crevices of the rocks little hard. leayed.
towering air-plants are growing At the
end of two months the bloom is over, the
bulbs have died back into the ground by
millions, the fig blossoms are withered,
the Karoo..assumes the red and brown hines
which it wears all the rest of the year.
Sometimes there is no spring. At inter
walls of few years great droughts occur,
when no rain falls. For ten or thirteen
months the sky is cloudless. The Karoo
bushes drop their leaves and are dry, with
cred stalks; the fountains fail, and the
dams ard flooded with dry baked mud,
which splits up into little squares; the
sheep and goat die by thousands, and the
Karoo is a desert. 1t is to provide for
these long rainless periods that all the
plant life in the Karoo is modified.
nothing that can not retain life habitually
for six months, and at need, for twice
that time without rain, can exist here
The Karoo bush itself provides against
drought by roots OF enormous length,
stretching under ground to the depth of
many feet. At the end of ten-montb' S
| drought, when the earth is baked for two
| feet from the surface; If you break the
dried stalk of Karoo bush three inches
high, you will find running down the
center a tiny thread of pale, ereen-tinted
tissue still alive with sap.
| Many plants live by means of heshy
bulbs buried deep under the ground, and
in years when no rain fail they do not ap.
pear above the surface or flower. Many
plants have thick, feshy leaves, in which
they store up moisture against the time of
need; some, such as the common sorrel and
dandelion, become elephants, all over their
feshy leaves and stems are little diamond
like drops, which when broken are found
to be full of pure water. little plant
sometimes having a cupful stored in this
way. Some live by having their leaves
closely pressed together into little solo
squares Or balls, so saving all evaporation
from their surfaces The air plants
which are fastened by the slanderest roots
to the ground or rocks, live entirely ON any
moisture that they may draw from the air,
and will grow and bloom for months in a
house without any water. In other ways
the intense dryness modifies vegetation;
food being scarce, all forms of vegetation
are eagerly sought after by animals, and
an unusual number are protected by
thorns or by such an intense bitterness
that no animal will touch them. One
little plant protects itself by assuming
a curious likeness to white lichen that
covers the rocks; these are placed close to-
| gether with their points upward, and on
the tip of each leaf is a little white, scaly
sheat. The resemblance of the smooth
surface these present to tie Hchen grow
ing on the rocks, besides which it is al
ways found, is so great that is not till you
tread on it that you discover the decep-
ton. Even on insects the stern con-
| ditions of life have marked effect I'M
itation coloring is more common
here than elsewhere, One little insect
is so like the white pebbles near
which it is always found and lies so
| motionless among them that once drop
ped it can not be found again; another
large, square locust, with hardly any
power of flight. protects itself by simply
lying motionless IN red stones, it SO ex-
actly resembles in color, having rough
cleavage marks upon it, that it is often
impossible to detect it when you know
II Is there