Personality of plants

PLANT INTELLIGENCE
with plants, is an acute sense of taste. How else
do the plants know what elements to absorb out
of the soil? Certain experiments have enabled
investigators to discover marked taste prefer-
ences of a number of microscopic plants. Bac-
teria are exceptionally fond of kali salts.
Though they thrive equally well on glycerine,
they can be lured from it at any time by the
toothsome kali solution.
A sense of taste plays a remarkable part in
the fecundation of Moss. The male element is
composed of swift-swimming cells equipped
with vibratory hairs. When deposited by the
wind or other means on the cups of the female
flower, they swim about in the moisture until
they are eventually enticed to the. unfertilized
eggs at the bottom by their taste for malic
acid. That this is no idle theory can be
proved in the laboratory. The seed-animal-
icules of some of the Ferns also are urged to
the act of impregnation by their preference for
the sugar in the seed cups.
All through the plant world we see actions
and habits which are the reverse of automatism
or mere instinctive response. Every plant con-
trol