Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-12
CACTUS
PIERCES EXPLORERS SHOES
Barbed Arrows o: Plants
Make Travelling PerilouS
on Tortu Island.
Or. Leonard and Wife Return
With Thousands of New
Specimens.
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.

From hell's cathedral of rock-fioored
desert and impenetrable jungle, where
wayfarerS are shot with barbed arrows
by bushes instead of savage men, q
Washington couple has just returned
after a six-month botanical exploration
DR.. E. C. Leonard of the Smithsonian
Institution accompanied by Mrs. Leon
ard, brought back from the desert OF
the northwestern peninsula of Haiti and
from Tortu Island, off the coast, ap-
proximately 5000 plant specimens, many
of which are believed to represent new
species.
Mrs. Leonard is the first white woman
ever to have spent night on Tortu
Island, and the first in many years to
have gone into the inhospitable desert,
where she and her husband Travelled by
donkey and lived in a tent. Hitherto
the country has been practically I'M
known to naturalistS. The washington
couple found the black natives curious
lot, but gentle and hoSpitable. The
same cannot be said for the plants,
which are among the most savage In the
vegetable kingdom.
Jumping Thorns Flourish.
The desert and the mountain slopes
are the home of the "picquant rouge"
cactus, probably the most aggressive of
the jumping thornS." This plant grows
about 2 feet high, and is covered with
pads about half inch in diameter, each
pad containing several thorns from an
inch to inches long The slightest jar
to the bush will cause 1t to throw"
these thornS with considerable force.
This jar might come from the impact of
a mules hoof on the rocks or even the
air stirred up by the passing rider.
The thorns move in parabola, going
a maximum distance Of five OF six feet.
Shoe leather, says Mr.. Leonard, is little
protection, since the thorns will pene-
trate it as if it we're so much cloth.
They will penetrate the flesh for an
inch. One thorn of an allied species
went nearly two inches into Mr.. Leon
ards leg and had to be cut out. Each
thorn ends in an extremely fine point
with a small barb, which makes the
process Of pulling out the dart very
painful.
Botanists Dispute Mechanism.
The mechanism which operates these
cacti is obscure, Mr.. Leonard said, and
has caused considerable dispute among
botanistS. Some have claimed that the
plant has something akin to a nervous
system, which is extremely sensitive and
transmits stimuli, although operating in
a different way from the animal nerv-
Gus system Others hold that this is not
necessary and that the pads are joined
to the cactus by brittle and fragile
connection so the slightest jar is suff1-
Client to dislodge them. When this hap
pens the structure of the plant is such
that they are projected a short distance
into the air and gather their penetrat-
ing force from the fall. They never
travel in any way but parabolic curve,
which would support purely mechan-
ical Interpretation.
The hands and legs are the special
sufferers. When bunch of thorns pen
etrates the flesh, the pain is intense and
the traveller stops to pull them out. I'm
mediately he Is bombarded by more
pads and is forced to abandon the spot.
Bodies of the wild pigs which infest the
country often are covered with these
thorns. Sometimes they penetrate the
eyes.
These bushes line trails like impene-
trable hedges. They make travel at
night virtually impossible, because the
wayfarer finds his path in every direc-
ton blocked by shooting thorns. Even
in daylight it often is impossible to
avoid them. The cacti spread rapidly
and will completely block off trail
which is not used for a few months.
The country Is the habitat Of other