ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND. 399 



the very root of things. And when we do so, we see for ourselves 

 at once that almost all capsules open where ? why, at the top, so 

 that the seeds can only be shaken out when there is a high enough 

 wind blowing to sway the stems to and fro with some violence, 

 and scatter the small, black grains inside to a considerable dis- 

 tance. Furthermore, in many instances, of which the common 

 poppy-head is an excellent example, the capsule opens by lateral 

 pores at the top of a flat head a further precaution which allows 

 the seeds to get out only by a few at a time, after a distinct jerk, 

 and so scatters them pretty evenly, with different winds, over a 

 wide circular space around the mother-plant. Experiment will 

 show how this simple dodge works. Try to shake out the poppy- 

 seed from a ripe poppy-head on the plant as it grows, without 

 breaking the stem or bending it unnaturally, and you will easily 

 see how much force of wind is required in order to put this unob- 

 trusive but very effective mechanism into working order. 



The devices of this character employed by various plants for 

 the dispersal of seeds even in ordinary dry capsules are far too 

 numerous for me to describe in full detail, though they form a 

 delightful subject for individual study in any small suburban 

 garden. I will only give one more illustrative case, just to show 

 the sort of point an amateur should always be on the lookout for. 

 There is an extremely common, though inconspicuous, English 

 weed, the mouse-ear chickweed, found everywhere in flower-beds 

 or grass-plots, however small, and noticeable for its quaint little 

 horn-shaped capsules. These have a very odd sort of twist or 

 cock-up in the middle, just above the part where the seeds lie ; 

 and they open at the top by ten small teeth, pointed obliquely 

 outward, for no apparent reason. Yet every point has a meaning 

 of its own for all that. The plant is one that lies rather close 

 upon the ground ; and the effect of this twist in the capsule is 

 that the seeds, which are relatively heavy, and well stored with 

 nutriment, can never get out at all, unless a very strong wind is 

 blowing, which sweeps over the herbage in long, quick waves, and 

 carries everything it shakes out for great distances before it. So 

 much design have even the smallest weeds put into the mechanism 

 for the dispersion of their precious seeds, the hope of their race 

 and the earnest of their future ! 



Artillery marks a higher stage than the sling and the stone. 

 Just so, in many plants, a step higher in the evolutionary scale as 

 regards the method of dispersion, the capsule itself bursts open 

 explosively, and scatters its contents to the four winds of heaven. 

 Such plants may be said to discharge their grains on the principle 

 of the bow and arrow. The balsam is a familiar example of this 

 startling mode of moving to fresh fields and pastures new : its 

 capsule consists of five long, straight valves, which break asunder 



