Flower Plants
Flower Plants
THE SNOW PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA (cont)they contain very little stored food, but there are a lot of them. There would be no point in being supplied with extra food, because if they land in a favorable spot, they don't have to reach up to the sun to absorb energy. If they land in a unfavorable place--on a rock, say--they will not survive anyway, so stored food to tide them over is pointless. Nature is seldom inefficient. At the same time that the seeds are ripening in the open air, the roots are growing underground. As fall approaches, the roots form new tiny shoots in preparation for next spring, when they can pop up at the first sign of moisture in the soil. Although they don't actually push up through the snow, they can appear before most other plants--often before the last winter storm arrives and drops more snow around them. It's easy to see how the snow plant aquired its common name.(Page SIX of SEVEN)