Plants and their children

by Frances Theodora Parsons

Low at our feet are the red ones of the wintergreen (Fig. [40]).

On taller plants grow the odd white ones, with blackish spots, of the white baneberry (Fig. [41]), or the red ones of the red baneberry.

Still higher glisten the dark, glass-like clusters of the spikenard.

Fig. 42

Along the lane are glowing barberries (Fig. [42]) and thorns bright with their “haws” (for the fruit of the thorn is called a “haw”). These look something like little apples.

Here, too, is the black alder, studded with its red, waxy beads. But we must hurry on, not stopping by the way. And you can be sure that those birds we hear chirruping above us are glad enough to be left to finish their dinner in peace.

WHY SEEDS TRAVEL

At last I think we all understand that by the red of the apple, the purple of the plum, and the different colors worn by the berries we find in the woods, these plants are inviting us, and the birds also, to eat their fruit, and so release from prison their little seeds.