Contrivances Used By Great Plants.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 62, 14 March 1931, Page 8

Contrivances Used By Great Plants.

Nature Notes

By

James Drummond.

F.L.S.. F.Z.S.

gCORES of very ordinary names, not even homely, given to the Eucalypts, clash with their proper title, which has a noble sound, and fits a noble tree. Blue-gum and red-gum, the popular names in New Zealand, are not fanciful or poetical, but they are better than many of the Eucalypts’ popular names in Australia. For instance: Fuz-zy-box, Brittle Jack, flat-root, leatherjacket, stringybark, messmate, scribblygum. snappy-gum woollybutt, and blood wood. Eucalyptus means, in Greek, “ well. ” and ** I cover.” It refers to a character possessed by few trees except the Eucalypts. That is a neat lid, like a fairy’s cap, that surmounts and protects the flower until the opening of the flower throws the lid off. The lid is an important part of the plant’s equipment, as it protects essential organs until they are ripe for fertilisation. The illustration shows a lid in position on a calyx, opposite a calyx from which the lid has fallen, exposing the organs of fertilisation.