Cultivated Bamboo in a Chinese Plantation
These giant grasses are sometimes one hundred and twenty feet high and one foot in diameter. They at times grow at the rate of three feet per day, and are used for all sorts of purposes, such as scaffolding poles, flower-pots, as a vegetable, etc. etc.
They have been taught (perhaps we should say learnt) by the thorns and briers of the wilderness.
The Cactus, Prickly Pears, or other succulent plants which belong to true deserts, are covered over with most curious and interesting spines. A row of little projections runs down each edge of the round fleshy stem. On each projection there is a rosette of spines. Sometimes these are long, slender, and diverging; in other cases they are short, stout, and curving over.
Now imagine a guanaco in South America, or even a rat or mouse, which is perishing of thirst in the arid desert where such things are found. It will be seen that it is by no means easy for it to taste the water in the juicy stem, for even the thin muzzle of a rat could scarcely get between the thorns.
Kerner describes how the wild asses in South America root up or try to split the Cacti with their hoofs to get at the juicy tissue of the unarmed lower parts. Yet they often receive dangerous wounds in doing so from the frightful spines of Melocactus[80] and others.
It is very interesting to see a flock of Angora goats in South Africa attacking an Acacia. The kid is a pretty, white, fluffy little creature, with the most meek, mild, and innocent expression. Yet it is a quarrelsome little brute. In a few minutes an Acacia will be despoiled, broken, and robbed of its foliage by a flock of them, although it bristles all over with long spines, of which there are a pair at the base of each leaf.
Even the Kameeldorn, Camelthorn Acacia, or the Wait-a-bit in South Africa cannot defend itself.
The Wait-a-bit (Wacht een beetje) is so called from the ingenious nature of its spines. There are two together, of which one is straight and the other curved round like a hook. Both are very sharp and strong, so that an incautious traveller is sure to injure himself and his clothes. The straight one runs into his tender flesh, whilst the curved one fixes itself in his clothes.
It is by thorns, spines, and prickles that plants often protect themselves against the attacks of grazing animals. But it must be remembered that these are by no means the only safeguard. Plants produce poisonous, bitter, or strong-smelling substances which keep off their enemies, and these indeed often afford a more efficient protection (see Chap. III.). These thorns, etc., can be produced in the most unexpected places. There is one rule, however, namely that they are invariably found in the exact spot where they can be most useful.