CH. XIV] 



DANDELION. 



183 



the seed-vessel prolongs the process of distribution : the 

 seeds are not all scattered at once, and are therefore 

 probably cast in a number of different directions. 



In all these cases the ovary which serves as the 

 " censer," from which the seeds are swung forth, remains 

 on the plant, but in many plants the ovary adheres to the 

 seed and is cast off with it, from the parent plant. When 

 this is the case the fruit (i.e. the ovary together with its 

 contained seeds) is, in common language, described as a 

 seed; thus a grain of wheat or barley is generally 

 considered to be a seed, whereas it is in reality a fruit 

 containing a single seed. In the same way, what is 

 commonly called the seed of a sunflower is in reality the 

 inferior ovary in which the seed is hidden. The same is 

 true of the dandelion " seed " (fruit) 1 shown in fig. 84. 



Fm. 84. 



FBUIT OF DANDELTON. 

 From Le Maout and Decaisne. 



1 In botanical language the word fruit does not imply that the object 

 described is eatable. 



