Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1884 — A Tree of Temper. [ARTICLE]

A Tree of Temper.

A Specimen of the “angry tree,” indigenous to Australia, is growing on a farm in Nevada, and is now eight feet high. When the sun sets its leaves fold together and the ends of the tender twigs coil up like a pigtail. If the twigs are handled the leaves move uneasily for a minute or more. A singular thing; concerning the tree was its apparent resentment on being removed from a pot, in which it had matured, into a much larger pot. Hardly had it been placed in its new quarters before the leaves began to stand up in. all directions, like the hair on the tail of an angry cat, and soon the whole plant was in a quiver. At the same time it gave out an odor most pungent and sickening, resembling the odor given off by rattlesnakes and other kinds of snakes when teased. So strong and offensive was this smell that it had to be removed from the house for several days.