At the present day, it is true, both the prickly-pear cactus and the American agave (which the world at large insists upon confounding with the aloe, a member of a totally distinct family) have spread themselves in an apparently13 wild condition over all the rocky coasts both of Southern Europe and of Northern Africa. The alien desert weeds have fixed14 their roots firmly in the sunbaked clefts15 of Ligurian Apennines; the tall candelabrum of the western agave has reared its great spike16 of branching blossoms (which flower, not once in a century, as legend avers17, but once in some fifteen years or so) on all the basking18 hillsides of the Mauritanian Atlas19. But for the origin, and therefore for the evolutionary20 history, of either plant, we must look away from the shore of the inland sea to the arid21 expanse of the Mexican desert. It was there, among the sweltering rocks of the Tierras Calientes, that these ungainly cactuses first learned to clothe themselves in prickly mail, to store in their loose tissues an abundant supply of sticky moisture, and to set at defiance22 the persistent23 attacks of all external enemies. The prickly pear, in fact, is a typical instance of a desert plant, as the camel is a typical instance of a desert animal. Each lays itself out to endure the long droughts of its almost rainless habitat by drinking as much as it can when opportunity offers, hoarding24 up the superfluous25 water for future use, and economising evaporation26 by every means in its power.
If you ask that convenient fiction, the Man in the Street, what sort of plant a cactus is, he will probably tell you it is all leaf and no stem, and each of the leaves grows out of the last one. Whenever we set up the Man in the Street, however, you must have noticed we do it in order to knock him down again like a nine-pin next moment: and this particular instance is no exception to the rule; for the truth is that a cactus is practically all stem and no leaves, what looks like a leaf being really a branch sticking out at an angle. The true leaves, if there are any, are reduced to mere27 spines28 or prickles on the surface, while the branches, in the prickly-pear and many of the ornamental30 hot-house cactuses, are flattened31 out like a leaf to perform foliar functions. In most plants, to put it simply, the leaves are the mouths and stomachs of the organism; their thin and flattened blades are spread out horizontally in a wide expanse, covered with tiny throats and lips which suck in carbonic acid from the surrounding air, and disintegrate32 it in their own cells under the influence of sunlight. In the prickly pears, on the contrary, it is the flattened stem and branches which undertake this essential operation in the life of the plant—the sucking-in of carbon and giving-out of oxygen, which is to the vegetable exactly what the eating and digesting of food is to the animal organism. In their old age, however, the stems of the prickly pear display their true character by becoming woody in texture33 and losing their articulated leaf-like appearance.
Everything on this earth can best be understood by investigating the history of its origin and development, and in order to understand this curious reversal of the ordinary rule in the cactus tribe we must look at the circumstances under which the race was evolved in the howling waste of American deserts. (All deserts have a prescriptive right to howl, and I wouldn't for worlds deprive them of the privilege.) Some familiar analogies will help us to see the utility of this arrangement. Everybody knows our common English stone-crops—or if he doesn't he ought to, for they are pretty and ubiquitous. Now stone-crops grow for the most part in chinks of the rock or thirsty sandy soil; they are essentially34 plants of very dry positions. Hence they have thick and succulent little stems and leaves, which merge35 into one another by imperceptible gradations. All parts of the plant alike are stumpy, green, and cylindrical36. If you squash them with your finger and thumb you find that though the outer skin or epidermis37 is thick and firm, the inside is sticky, moist, and jelly-like. The reason for all this is plain; the stone-crops drink greedily by their roots whenever they get a chance, and store up the water so obtained to keep them from withering38 under the hot and pitiless sun that beats down upon them for hours in the baked clefts of their granite39 matrix. It's the camel trick over again. So leaves and stem grow thick and round and juicy within; but outside they are enclosed in a stout40 layer of epidermis, which consists of empty glassy cells, and which can be peeled off or flayed41 with a knife like the skin of an animal. This outer layer prevents evaporation, and is a marked feature of all succulent plants which grow exposed to the sun on arid rocks or in sandy deserts.
The tendency to produce rounded stems and leaves, little distinguishable from one another, is equally noticeable in many seaside plants which frequent the strip of thirsty sand beyond the reach of the tides. That belt of dry beach that stretches between high-water mark and the zone of vegetable mould, is to all intents and purpose a miniature desert. True, it is watered by rain from time to time; but the drops sink in so fast that in half an hour, as we know, the entire strip is as dry as Sahara again. Now there are many shore weeds of this intermediate sand-belt which mimic42 to a surprising degree the chief external features of the cactuses. One such weed, the common salicornia, which grows in sandy bottoms or hollows of the beach, has a jointed43 stem, branched and succulent, after the true cactus pattern, and entirely44 without leaves or their equivalents in any way. Still more cactus-like in general effect is another familiar English seaside weed, the kali or glasswort, so called because it was formerly45 burnt to extract the soda46. The glasswort has leaves, it is true, but they are thick and fleshy, continuous with the stem, and each one terminating in a sharp, needle-like spine29, which effectually protects the weed against all browsing47 aggressors.
Now, wherever you get very dry and sandy conditions of soil, you get this same type of cactus-like vegetation—plantes grasses, as the French well call them. The species which exhibit it are not necessary related to one another in any way; often they belong to most widely distinct families; it is an adaptive resemblance alone, due to similarity of external circumstances only. The plants have to fight against the same difficulties, and they adopt for the most part the same tactics to fight them with. In other words, any plant of whatever family, which wishes to thrive in desert conditions, must almost, as a matter of course, become thick and succulent, so as to store up water, and must be protected by a stout epidermis to prevent its evaporation under the fierce heat of the sunlight. They do not necessarily lose their leaves in the process; but the jointed stem usually answers the purpose of leaves under such conditions far better than any thin and exposed blade could do in the arid air of a baking desert. And therefore, as a rule, desert plants are leafless.
In India, for example, there are no cactuses. But I wouldn't advise you to dispute the point with a peppery, fire-eating Anglo-Indian colonel. I did so once, myself, at the risk of my life, at a table d'h?te on the Continent; and the wonder is that I'm still alive to tell the story. I had nothing but facts on my side, while the colonel had fists, and probably pistols. And when I say no cactuses, I mean, of course, no indigenous48 species; for prickly pears and epiphyllums may naturally be planted by the hand of man anywhere. But what people take for thickets49 of cactus in the Indian jungle are really thickets of cactus-like spurges. In the dry soil of India, many spurges grow thick and succulent, learn to suppress their leaves, and assume the bizarre forms and quaint jointed appearance of the true cactuses. In flower and fruit, however, they are euphorbias to the end; it is only in the thick and fleshy stem that they resemble their nobler and more beautiful Western rivals. No true cactus grows truly wild anywhere on earth except in America. The family was developed there, and, till man transplanted it, never succeeded in gaining a foothold elsewhere. Essentially tropical in type, it was provided with no means of dispersing50 its seeds across the enormous expanse of intervening ocean which separated its habitat from the sister continents.
But why are cactuses so almost universally prickly? From the grotesque51 little melon-cactuses of our English hothouses to the huge and ungainly monsters which form miles of hedgerows on Jamaican hillsides, the members of this desert family are mostly distinguished52 by their abundant spines and thorns, or by the irritating hairs which break off in your skin if you happen to brush incautiously against them. Cactuses are the hedgehogs of the vegetable world; their motto is Nemo me impune lacessit. Many a time in the West Indies I have pushed my hand for a second into a bit of tangled53 'bush,' as the negroes call it, to seize some rare flower or some beautiful insect, and been punished for twenty-four hours afterwards by the stings of the almost invisible and glass-like little cactus-needles. When you rub them they only break in pieces, and every piece inflicts54 a fresh wound on the flesh where it rankles55. Some of the species have large, stout prickles; some have clusters of irritating hairs at measured distances; and some rejoice in both means of defence at once, scattered56 impartially57 over their entire surface. In the prickly pear, the bundles of prickles are arranged geometrically with great regularity58 in a perfect quincunx. But that is a small consolation59 indeed to the reflective mind when you've stung yourself badly with them.
The reason for this bellicose60 disposition61 on the part of the cactuses is a tolerably easy one to guess. Fodder62 is rare in the desert. The starving herbivores that find themselves from time to time belated on the confines of such thirsty regions would seize with avidity upon any succulent plant which offered them food and drink at once in their last extremity63. Fancy the joy with which a lost caravan64, dying of hunger and thirst in the byways of Sahara, would hail a great bed of melons, cucumbers, and lettuces65! Needless to say, however, under such circumstances melon, cucumber, and lettuce66 would soon be exterminated67: they would be promptly68 eaten up at discretion69 without leaving a descendant to represent them in the second generation. In the ceaseless war between herbivore and plant, which is waged every day and all day long the whole world over with far greater persistence70 than the war between carnivore and prey71, only those species of plant can survive in such exposed situations which happen to develop spines, thorns, or prickles as a means of defence against the mouths of hungry and desperate assailants.
Nor is this so difficult a bit of evolution as it looks at first sight. Almost all plants are more or less covered with hairs, and it needs but a slight thickening at the base, a slight woody deposit at the point, to turn them forthwith into the stout prickles of the rose or the bramble. Most leaves are more or less pointed72 at the end or at the summits of the lobes73; and it needs but a slight intensification74 of this pointed tendency to produce forthwith the sharp defensive75 foliage76 of gorse, thistles, and holly77. Often one can see all the intermediate stages still surviving under one's very eyes. The thistles, themselves, for example, vary from soft and unarmed species which haunt out-of-the-way spots beyond the reach of browsing herbivores, to such trebly-mailed types as that enemy of the agricultural interest, the creeping thistle, in which the leaves continue themselves as prickly wings down every side of the stem, so that the whole plant is amply clad from head to foot in a defensive coat of fierce and bristling spearheads. There is a common little English meadow weed, the rest-harrow, which in rich and uncropped fields produces no defensive armour78 of any sort; but on the much-browsed-over suburban79 commons and in similar exposed spots, where only gorse and blackthorn stand a chance for their lives against the cows and donkeys, it has developed a protected variety in which some of the branches grow abortive80, and end abruptly81 in stout spines like a hawthorn's. Only those rest-harrows have there survived in the sharp struggle for existence which happened most to baffle their relentless82 pursuers.
Desert plants naturally carry this tendency to its highest point of development. Nowhere else is the struggle for life so fierce; nowhere else is the enemy so goaded83 by hunger and thirst to desperate measures. It is a place for internecine84 warfare85 Hence, all desert plants are quite absurdly prickly. The starving herbivores will attack and devour86 under such circumstances even thorny87 weeds, which tear or sting their tender tongues and palates, but which supply them at least with a little food and moisture: so the plants are compelled in turn to take almost extravagant88 precautions. Sometimes the leaves end in a stout dagger-like point, as with the agave, or so-called American aloe; sometimes they are reduced to mere prickles or bundles of needle-like spikes89; sometimes they are suppressed altogether, and the work of defence is undertaken in their stead by irritating hairs intermixed with caltrops of spines pointing outward from a common centre in every direction. When one remembers how delicately sensitive are the tender noses of most browsing herbivores, one can realize what an excellent mode of defence these irritating hairs must naturally constitute. I have seen cows in Jamaica almost maddened by their stings, and even savage90 bulls will think twice in their rage before they attempt to make their way through the serried91 spears of a dense92 cactus hedge. To put it briefly93, plants have survived under very arid or sandy conditions precisely94 in proportion as they displayed this tendency towards the production of thorns, spines, bristles95, and prickles.
It is a marked characteristic of the cactus tribe to be very tenacious96 of life, and when hacked97 to pieces, to spring afresh in full vigour98 from every scrap99 or fragment. True vegetable hydras, when you cut down one, ten spring in its place: every separate morsel101 of the thick and succulent stem has the power of growing anew into a separate cactus. Surprising as this peculiarity102 seems at first sight, it is only a special desert modification103 of a faculty104 possessed105 in a less degree by almost all plants and by many animals. If you cut off the end of a rose branch and stick it in the ground under suitable conditions, it grows into a rose tree. If you take cuttings of scarlet geraniums or common verbenas, and pot them in moist soil, they bud out apace into new plants like their parents. Certain special types can even be propagated from fragments of the leaf; for example, there is a particularly vivacious106 begonia off which you may snap a corner of one blade, and hang it up by a string from a peg107 or the ceiling, when, hi, presto108! little begonia plants begin to bud out incontinently on every side from its edges. A certain German professor went even further than that; he chopped up a liverwort very fine into vegetable mincemeat, which he then spread thin over a saucerful of moist sand, and lo! in a few days the whole surface of the mess was covered with a perfect forest of sprouting109 little liverworts. Roughly speaking, one may say that every fragment of every organism has in it the power to rebuild in its entirety another organism like the one of which it once formed a component111 element.
Similarly with animals. Cut off a lizard112's tail, and straightway a new tail grows in its place with surprising promptitude. Cut off a lobster113's claw, and in a very few weeks that lobster is walking about airily on his native rocks, with two claws as usual. True, in these cases the tail and the claw don't bud out in turn into a new lizard or a new lobster. But that is a penalty the higher organisms have to pay for their extreme complexity114. They have lost that plasticity, that freedom of growth, which characterizes the simpler and more primitive115 forms of life; in their case the power of producing fresh organisms entire from a single fragment, once diffused116 equally over the whole body, is now confined to certain specialized117 cells which, in their developed form, we know as seeds or eggs. Yet, even among animals, at a low stage of development, this original power of reproducing the whole from a single part remains118 inherent in the organism; for you may chop up a fresh-water hydra100 into a hundred little bits, and every bit will be capable of growing afresh into a complete hydra.
Now, desert plants would naturally retain this primitive tendency in a very high degree; for they are specially119 organized to resist drought—being the survivors120 of generations of drought-proof ancestors—and, like the camel, they have often to struggle on through long periods of time without a drop of water. Exactly the same thing happens at home to many of our pretty little European stone-crops. I have a rockery near my house overgrown with the little white sedum of our gardens. The birds often peck off a tiny leaf or branch; it drops on the dry soil, and remains there for days without giving a sign of life. But its thick epidermis effectually saves it from withering; and as soon as rain falls, wee white rootlets sprout110 out from the under side of the fragment as it lies, and it grows before long into a fresh small sedum plant. Thus, what seem like destructive agencies themselves, are turned in the end by mere tenacity121 of life into a secondary means of propagation.
That is why the prickly pear is so common in all countries where the climate suits it, and where it has once managed to gain a foothold. The more you cut it down, the thicker it springs; each murdered bit becomes the parent in due time of a numerous offspring. Man, however, with his usual ingenuity122, has managed to best the plant, on this its own ground, and turn it into a useful fodder for his beasts of burden. The prickly pear is planted abundantly on bare rocks in Algeria, where nothing else would grow, and is cut down when adult, divested123 of its thorns by a rough process of hacking124, and used as food for camels and cattle. It thus provides fresh moist fodder in the African summer when the grass is dried up and all other pasture crops have failed entirely.
The flowers of the prickly pear, as of many other cactuses, grow apparently on the edge of the leaves, which alone might give the observant mind a hint as to the true nature of those thick and flattened expansions. For whenever what look like leaves bear flowers or fruit on their edge or midrib, as in the familiar instance of butcher's broom, you may be sure at a glance they are really branches in disguise masquerading as foliage. The blossoms in the prickly pear are large, handsome, and yellow; at least, they would be handsome if one could ever see them, but they are generally covered so thick in dust that it is difficult properly to appreciate their beauty. They have a great many petals125 in numerous rows, and a great many stamens in a rosette in the centre; and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, as lawyers put it, they are fertilized126 for the most part by tropical butterflies; but on this point, having observed them but little in their native habitats, I speak under correction.
The fruit itself, to which the plant owes its popular name, is botanically a berry, though a very big one, and it exhibits in a highly specialized degree the general tactics of all its family. As far as their leaf-like stems go, the main object in life of the cactuses is—not to get eaten. But when it comes to the fruit, this object in life is exactly reversed; the plant desires its fruit to be devoured127 by some friendly bird or adapted animal, in order that the hard little seeds buried in the pulp128 within may be dispersed129 for germination130 under suitable conditions. At the same time, true to its central idea, it covers even the pear itself with deterrent131 and prickly hairs, meant to act as a defence against useless thieves or petty depredators, who would eat the soft pulp on the plant as it stands (much as wasps132 do peaches) without benefiting the species in return by dispersing its seedlings133. This practice is fully8 in accordance with the general habit of tropical or sub-tropical fruits, which lay themselves out to deserve the kind offices of monkeys, parrots, toucans134, hornbills, and other such large and powerful fruit-feeders. Fruits which arrange themselves for a clientèle, of this character have usually thick or nauseous rinds, prickly husks, or other deterrent integuments; but they are full within of juicy pulp, embedding135 stony136 or nutlike seeds, which pass undigested through the gizzards of their swallowers.
For a similar reason, the actual prickly pears themselves are attractively coloured. I need hardly point out, I suppose, at the present time of day, that such tints137 in the vegetable world act like the gaudy138 posters of our London advertisers. Fruits and flowers which desire to attract the attention of beasts, birds, or insects, are tricked out in flaunting139 hues140 of crimson141, purple, blue, and yellow; fruits and flowers which could only be injured by the notice of animals are small and green, or dingy142 and inconspicuous.
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1
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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cactus
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| n.仙人掌 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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avers
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| v.断言( aver的第三人称单数 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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evolutionary
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| adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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hoarding
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| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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disintegrate
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| v.瓦解，解体，（使）碎裂，（使）粉碎 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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merge
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| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
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cylindrical
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| adj.圆筒形的 | |
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epidermis
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| n.表皮 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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jointed
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| 有接缝的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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browsing
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| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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54
inflicts
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的第三人称单数 ) | |
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55
rankles
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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56
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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57
impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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58
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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59
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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60
bellicose
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| adj.好战的；好争吵的 | |
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61
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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62
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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63
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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64
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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65
lettuces
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| n.莴苣，生菜（ lettuce的名词复数 ）；生菜叶 | |
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66
lettuce
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| n.莴苣；生菜 | |
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67
exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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69
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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70
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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71
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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72
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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73
lobes
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| n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶 | |
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74
intensification
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| n.激烈化，增强明暗度；加厚 | |
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75
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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76
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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77
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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78
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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80
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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81
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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82
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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83
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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84
internecine
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| adj.两败俱伤的 | |
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85
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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86
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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thorny
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| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
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88
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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89
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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92
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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93
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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hacked
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| 生气 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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99
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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100
hydra
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| n.水螅；难于根除的祸患 | |
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101
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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102
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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103
modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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104
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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106
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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107
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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108
presto
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| adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的 | |
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109
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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110
sprout
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| n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条 | |
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111
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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112
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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113
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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114
complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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115
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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116
diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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117
specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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118
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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119
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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120
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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121
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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122
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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123
divested
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| v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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124
hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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125
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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126
Fertilized
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| v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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128
pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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129
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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130
germination
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| n.萌芽，发生；萌发；生芽；催芽 | |
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131
deterrent
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| n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的 | |
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132
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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133
seedlings
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| n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 ) | |
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134
toucans
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| n.巨嘴鸟，犀鸟( toucan的名词复数 ) | |
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135
embedding
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| 把…嵌入，埋入( embed的现在分词 )； 植入； 埋置； 包埋 | |
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136
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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137
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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138
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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139
flaunting
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| adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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140
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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141
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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142
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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