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| How Plants Camouflage Themselves |
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| Intellectual Sections - MACROPHONE | |
| Written by Ali A. Naser | |
| Friday, 01 April 2005 | |
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We know that animals camouflage themselves for protection. Lions, wild cats, tigers, and other wild animals have their special colours. Lithpos The plants blend in among the stones as a means of protection. In the wild, living stones inhabit vast dry regions of southern Africa. Several areas in which these plants grow receive less than two inches of rainfall per month throughout the entire year. In an extreme situation of low rainfall, at least one species of lithops (living stones) depends on mist or fog to provide its main source of moisture. Lithops could not survive in many areas that they are found were it not for their capacity to store water. In fact, almost the entire plant is devoted to this function. This "body" of the plant is divided into two succulent leaves fused together in the shape of an inverted cone. The fissure or slit at the top of the plant is the division of the two leaves. There is no stem as such, but rather the taproot joins abruptly at the base of the leaves. The structure of the plant reveals to the imagination the harsh environment in which lithops live: the scarcity of water demands that young plants limited to only two leaves and root system, as more extravagant growth would only serve to waste water. The leaves are thick to store enough water for the plants to survive for months without rain. The plants are small and keep a low profile to minimise the effect of the intense heat and light of their climate. Boletus Boletus edulis is distinguished from other members of the bolete group by a combination of characters: substantial size, a smooth to wrinkled brown to reddish-brown cap surface, drab white pores becoming yellowish olive in age, a usually club-shape site with distinctive white reticulations at the apex, mild test, and absence of colour change. It is the justice of God to whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty, to give every thing its own secrets for surviving. References: 1. Osipov N. The Magic Tree 2. Rowlette N. A Guide to the cultivation of Lithop 3. lithops.info/en/lithops.html 4. lithop.supanet.com 5. mykoweb.com/CAF/spcies/Boletus 6. thefreedictionary.com | |
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