The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-08

soSA auo QAfense. This fact IS go marhes made te 3 paat .s vii some form of intelligence, Nowhere Il tnls evident design Of nature made more prominent than in the functions display eG hy q queer Orinoco growth, to wnici
 Angry Plant which is closely allied to several pants of the temperate zone 1T this plant is disturbed by touch oi biow It will instantly show every sigI of vexation, ruffiins It's leaves in most pelhgsrent way, reminding, one of a quarrelsome setting hen or the 'spitting' of an angry cat, But the most remark able feature of the tree is its simuita- neous discharge of very disagreeapie and even nauseous odor. which Will read ny cause any intruder to move awa!,- hsnce its local name of Angry Plant.
 There Is another tropical plant, similar 70 the angry tree, known as the man cineLa, covered with muscilaginous gum, which exudes from its stems ana leaves. But the mancinella. unlike It's angry brother. usss no threat but simp. ly impales any intruding creature that dares to climb its trunk, or alisnt upon It's gurnmy branches. The virulent na- ture of the sweat or balsam of this tree. has stimulated many fabulous tales as to US carniverous propensities. In 1act; some excitable writers have compared 1t with the deadly upas. and declared that they had seen 1t reach out and grasp PooSii& dulUuAl8 anu IOlu tuch III s'o fa.al embrace. It has been established that its juices are poisonous and even fatal to man when brought into contact with cut surfaces on the body. It IS carefully avoided by birds and animals, though we did observe, one day, small owl glued to its slimy limbs, and await- ing slow cnd horrible death. The ln- dians of the interior gather the gum to throw into fish ponds, as 1t has the prop erty of stupefying the fish and render- ing their Capture easy.
 This tree has doubtless given rise to the fabulous stories of the cannibal ana blood-sucking tree of Nicaragua, as well as the Amazon country. When It IS young, 1t grows in the shape of large pineapple, with a cup snapped form at the apex. fringed with deep green leaves. Shooting out from all points of It's giob- uIar body, are great broad, heavy, fabby leaves, several feet in length, which hang to the groafid ana are strong enough to hold mans weight. Yet heavy as they are. any disturbance to the apex Will cause these heavy leaves to rise up and curve over the tops as though to pro- tect it's tender pistils or to secure or capture any intruding object This strange tnanosuyrei have seen perform ed by large stone beihG tnsewn into the eup-shaped apex. !.
 Among the extravagant Indian tradi- lions of the country. was told that ior- merly offenders were condemned to run up tHt IchNPS, AHQ Wucsl ttlt iah stepped into the pstils, the monster leaves would fly up ana squeeze out his life and consume his flesh. Hence the origin of one of the names of "cannloal tree. This fact has been woven into that clever same,'' where the judgment of the Inca condemned the victim to what he terms the "Slrangier." A similar tree is wei known to the Australian forests.
 One of the most extra ordinary gr0Wtns Af Aks- len hot Ia nah hnH arbol del leche, or milk tree. which ex- udes a sap of nourishing milk. This fact Is all the more curious, since the milky juiees or emuisions of all other plants are acrid. bitter and more or less pois- onous,
 Another qucsr fact about this milk trcc Is that 1t generally grows on the com parativeiy barren flank of rock, where It's large woody roots can scarcely pene- trate into the seams of the stone In this not a single shower moistens its foliage or roots. Even it's branches and leaves will appear dead and dried, but when an incision Is made into it's trunk, there lows from 1t a sweet and neurishins milk. The chemical principles of the al, burnea of this vegetable fountain. would seem to combat the idea of many sci entists that milk is exclusively pro- duet of animal organization
 When this glutinous substance was first
  quired some exertion to overcome our antipathy, but when assured of it's vir- tues, yielded. The milk is somewhat via cous, but devoid of acridlty and has all agreeable and balmy smell. approximate ing very close in its taste to genuine cows milk.
 In a country where the milk of the COW Is tainted with noxious weeds, thts sub stitute Is very gracious and We often par took of quantities of it, without the least evil effect.
 When the ju!cs is exposed for time to the air, 1t coagulates and soon forms string!y. yellowlsh substance resemb' ling cheese. In fact, long betoro the outside world had discovered caseum. as tho basis of cheese. the Orinoco Indians were drinking thls milk and eating the cheese from its condensed juices.
 There are many other curious and Vi' cIous plants, with their fangs of poison others distilling perfumes that madden the brain and others still sweating gum which consumes the flesh like fire.
 Then, there are found those quaint va rieties, which climb up the barren. rock ribbed palisades of the mountains and flourish where other plants would fnd q hopeless struggle for existence. Others creep out over the bleak and scared fields of volcanic scorae. taking scanty nour' ishment from tiny crevtces and seams lr rocks. and triumphantly raising theti stately flower standards, as solitary con
 
 CTS still will stealthily and courageousl\ travel into those gloomy dungeons (the caverrs) and as far as the giImme-ins sunlight can reach. will chdeavor to es- tabiSh their power. even though thetl growth produced strange and grotesquf hybrids. 4 striking Illustration of these strange subterraDean plants came under my observation. at the groteo of Caripe in Eastern Venezuela, There were sev' eral specimens of plant life. in the n1air vcstibule of the cavern, with curious which with the stalks and all then branches were visihly inclined towards the dim light that entered the mouth ot the cave. These plants were the pro duct of seeds brought in hv the caverr birds tguacharos) and which had sprout- cd from tho mould and c9lcareous tncrus- tations The absence of light had pro duced strange forms among these phan' tom growths.
 The perfume plants embrace such . large family Of tropical flowers that nc invisible vaporous perfume. In some. tho taken. because they are legion. Whei the warm rays of the tropical sun fall up' on the mala bars. roses, magnotias anC other flowers, which q single day have brought into bloom, the shrub perspires moisture through it's pores just as the human body does in the same warmth The moisture absorbed by the plant evap orates through it's flowers. going off In AT invisibl evaporous perfume. In some. thu oder is diffused throughout the shruh' bu 1t is more often condensed in particular organs. as in the root, like ginger, in thu bark, like cinnamon in the flower, lik' cloves: in the fruit, ike vanilla, or in th' wood. like aloes. And still more varied are thA ilIiminita hle uses to which thesi