Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-23
LABOR DONE ny LICHENs.
How They Begin the world--Curious Facts
About Seeds.

LABOR DONE ny LCHENs.
How They Begin the world--Curious Facts
About Seeds.
Among the most curious OF the tribes of
plants that grow in the world are the lichens."
said a botsnist to a STAR writer. They are
the first forms Of vegetation which clothe the
bare rocks Of newly made coral OF volcanic
Islands in the mids: OF the ocean. Their
duty In the economy of nature is TO prepare
soil for future plants TO grow in. The
manner IN which they accomplish this ia most
remarkable. While living they manufacture
considerable quantities OF oxalic acid out of
the carbon and oxygen from the atmosphere
and this acts chemically upon the rock. espec-
"iy II 1t IS limestone. eating it away and form
ing holiovs which retain the decayed ver.-
table particles after the lichegs themselves
have died
rRFfR OWN GRAVE DlGGERs
THUS the lichens may be said 10 DIG graves
for the reception of their own remains. which
are thus retained an made TO form tho BEGIN
ning OF a soil Successive generations of thes.
vegetable tollers grow and contribute their
substance 10 the Accommodations in the bolloVs
until plants of higher kind. seeds of which
are always ahoat IN the AIR, can find root so
~ 4HSs'ts anu lOiON. and at length.
through the progress of growth and deeav'
sufficient thickness of soil il, pro-
duccd for the nourishmcnt of luxuriant
heritage. Different tribes of plants. of grad
ualiy increasing size and strength. follow one
another until in the course of wears the ster-
lie rock is converted into garden, of which
the productions, rising from grasses to shrubs
and trees. present all the varieties OF the fer
tile meadow. the tangled thicket and the
spreading forest of lofty trees.
VALUABLE. DYES.
: Besides this important office in the making
of world. some os the lichens arc especially
useful to man on account of the valuable DIVES
they afford. The blue dye called .litmus.
which Is changed TO "a bright red by the action
OF acids, is obtained from several species OF
hchen growing in the Canary Islands and else
where Upon lichens the people of Lapland
depend for their subsistence. inasmuch as
species called reindeer moss supplies their
reindeer with food through the winter its
growth not being checked by the snow beneath
which it develops. i sort of Arctic hchen has
saved many adventurous explorers from star
vatlon. In the realms of perpetual frost the
snow which never meits mountains or in
valleys Is sometimes Redeemed for miles by a
minute vegetable, formerly imagined to have
fallen from the sky and called red snow 1t
also is a ,ichen.
They FLOURISH IN ANY CLIMATE.
was too hot or too cold for plants TO grow in.
Certain vegetable growths flourish in a hot
spring on the Manila Islands. the tempera-
ture of which is lS7 degrees Fahrenheit shrubs
ana trees grow IN hot springs of Louisiana the
water OF which raises the thermometer TO las
degrees. Vegetation OF certain kinds has
been observed in boiling geysers of
utes Bulbs have been known to t-uctify IN
SAND that was kept at a heat far exceeding that
OF boiling water. Instances are recorded of
bulbs unrolied from the bandages of Egyptian
mummies which sprouted and grew upon being
planted. but II is probable that such eases were
cheats oy the natives on credulous travellers.
VITALITY OF THE SEEDS
Nevertheless. il canno, be said that sucb n
thing is altogether impossible. The seeds of
most plants are endowed with a remarkable
power of preserving their vitality for an uD.
limited Tune under conditions not calculated
TO cause sprouting nor to occasion
decay. Given moderate temperature,
dryness and absence OF oxygen there
Is apparently hardly any limit to The period
during which seeds may preserve within
themselves the clements of life Several
kinds kept in the herbarium of a famous French
| botanlst were found to have retained their fer
unity after the lapse of nearly a century. Very
often virgin ground that IL turned up newly
spontaneously produces plants different from
any In their nelghborhood. which are derived
from seeds that have lain for a long period
embedded i'll the soil at such a distance from
the surface as TO prevent the access OF air and
moisture.
SEEDS PRESERVED FOR AGES
Some years ago IN Maine laborers sinking a
well about forty miles from the sea struck a
layer of sand at depth of forty feet This
excited curiosity. because no sand like il was
to be found anywhere nearer than the ocean
beach, The sand WAS scattered about on the
surface OF the ground. and from the area COW
cred by 1t n great number of small trees
quickly sprang. They were finally ascertained
10 De beach plum trees. and they actually bore
beach piums. which had never before been seen
except upon the very seashore. 1t is believed
that they must have grown from seeds which
existed IN the stratum of sea sand pierced by
the we'll diggers. BY what means they were
thrown there and how long they had quietly
slept beneath the surface of the earth 10 is
hardly possible TO guess
PERHAPS the most remarkable instance ON
record giving evidence of the preservation Of
vitality IN seeds for at least LOO wears Is re-
lated by Dr. Lndley. He says: Il have now
before me three plants of raspberries which
have been raised IN the gardens of the Ii ORTIZ
cultural Society from seeds taken on. of tie
stomach of a man whose skeleton was tound
thirty feet below the surface of the
earth at the bottom of a barrow near Dorcbes.
ter he mad been buried with some coins of
the Emperor Hadrian.' These barrays are
ancient burial mounds. which were probably
erected on fields of battle to contain the bod.
les of the slain. There is kind of moss ma
tive to Peru which often becomes entirely
dried mp for lack of water Il then
folds up its leaves and contracts its roots
so as to form ball, which ap-
parently without life is driven about hitber
and thither by the wind. As soon. however.
as It reaches a moist situation it sends down its
roots into the soil and unfolds to the atmos-
phere its leaves, which speedily change from a
dingy brown to the bright green Of active
vegetation.