Cb XV.] 



THE SEED. 



Fig. 6r>. 



393. In Fig. 66, a represents the capillary, or hair-like egret: 

 b the plumose, or feathery egret ; c and d show the style remain- 

 ing, and forming a train, as in the Virgin's bower and Geum; 

 e represents a wing, as may be seen in the fir and maple ; and 

 fu. sessile egret. 



General Remarks upon Seeds. 



394. The number of seeds in different plants is variable; 

 some have but one ; some, like the umbelliferous plants, have 

 two ; some have four, as in the rough-leaved plants ; in the order 

 Gymnospermia, of the class Didynamia, there are four lying 

 naked in each calyx. The number varies from these to thou- 

 sands. A stalk of Indian corn is said to have produced in o.ne 

 season, two thousand seeds. It has been calculated that a sin- 

 gle Thistle seed will produce, at the first crop, twenty-four 

 .housand, and at the second crop, at this rate, five hundred and 

 seventy-six millions. 



395. Seeds are of various sizes, from that of the cocoa-nul, to 

 a fine dust, as in the mosses. 



396. The period at which seeds arrive at maturity, marks 

 the decay of annual plants, and the suspension of vegetation in 

 woody and perennial plants. Nature, in favouring by various 

 means, the dispersion of these seeds, presents phenomena 

 worthy of our admiration, and those means are as varied as the 

 species of seeds which are spread upon the surface of the earth. 



397. The air, winds, rivers, seas, and animals, transport 

 seeds and disperse them in every direction. Seeds provided 

 with feathery crowns, (egrets,) as the Dandelion and Thistle, 

 or with wings, as the Maple and Ash, are raised into the air, 

 and even carried across seas. Linnaeus asserted that a certain 



393. What is represented by Fig. GO 1 



391. What is remarked respecting the variation in the number of 



395. What is said of the different sizes of seeds? 



396. What marks the decay of annual plants 1 



397. How are seeds transported in various directions? 



