Curious Botanical Phenomenon

Abstract

ABOUT a fortnight ago I noticed a curious phenomenon in a wood near Leyland, Lancashire. The ground was strewn with a layer of about eight to ten inches of old sodden leaves, covered at the surface by dry withered ones. A quantity of hyacinths (not yet in flower) were growing on this ground, and many of the plants had pierced through the withered leaves to the extent of from half an inch to three inches, carrying them up above the general surface. Some of the hyacinths had in this way penetrated through more than half a dozen withered leaves, and here and there several plants were gathered together at their tops by a number of old leaves, through which they had conjointly grown.