PROTECT THEMSELVES.
Plants have various ways of protecting themselves. Some emit an unpleasant odour; others produce a poisonous substance; and others grow weapons like thorns, spines, or the stinging hairs of nettles. Not all the protective weapons have been produced in the same way. In the rose, bramble, or blackberry, for example, the thorns are simply hairs of the outer skin hardened by the deposition of matter on their outsides. In plants like the blackthorn, sloe and the locust tree, the spines are developed from buds. In other plants, as, for instance, the barberry, the spines are modified leaves. The way in which the prickly pear, like other cacti, protects itself is very ingenious. It has reduced its leaves to thin spines, which serve a double purpose. They ward on enemies that would eat the plant, and also prevent evaporation of the plants moisture in a hot, dry climate.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 251, 22 October 1936, Page 18
Word Count
149PROTECT THEMSELVES. Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 251, 22 October 1936, Page 18
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