Personality of plants

PLANT INTELLIGENCE
tinually has to meet new and trying conditions,
and while its reactions, just like those of man,
are frequently in the terms of racial and individual
experience, it is constantly called upon
to make new and novel decisions.
Consider the intelligence of a wild Service
Tree described by Carpenter. As a seed, it
sprouted in the crotch of an Oak, and at once
sent a lusty root down toward the earth. As it
descended the Oak trunk and neared the
ground, its further progress was barred by a
large stone slab. It is authentically recorded,
that, when still one and one-half feet away, the
tip of the root, by direct perception or occult
means, discovered the presence of the obstruc-
tion, and, at once splitting into two equal bran-
ches, passed on either side of the stone.
A more remarkable case is that of a tropical
Monstera, which, coming into life on top of a
greenhouse, sent canny and vigorous roots di-
rectly down to certain water tanks on the
ground.
Isolated instances of plant intelligence might
be mere coincidences if it were not for the fact
that they multiply greatly the further one in-
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