The President's Address. By Lord Avebury. 



287 



a tuft of long, silky, white hairs. They are therefore adapted to be 

 driven by the wind. 



In Cirecea, the Enchanter's Nightshade, the fruit is obovoid, 

 1-2-celled, with one seed in each cell, conforming to the interior 

 of the cell. The fruit is covered with bristly, spreading, hooked 

 hairs. They would thus, with the seed in them, be carried away 

 by passing animals. When the fruit is ripe the pedicel turns 

 downwards. It is thickened and articulated at the base. 



The other three genera are aquatic plants, with small seeds. 

 They are probably carried with mud by birds from one pond to 

 another. 



t> 



(&S 



Fig. 76. 



Fig. 77. 



Fig. 78. 



Fig. 79. 



Figs. 76-79. — Geum urbanum. Fig. 76, young style; Fig. 77, older; 

 Fig. 78, still older ; Fig. 79, ripe fruit. 



Cucurbit a CEiE. — Our only British species of this family is the 

 Common Bryony. The fruit is a berry, red or orange in colour, and 

 the leaves are deciduous. This accords with the suggestion made 

 already. 



The seeds are flat and nearly orbicular. 



Crassulace^e. — The seeds are generally small, and therefore 

 easily carried by the wind. They adhere also to almost any 

 surface. 



KiBESiACEiE. — The fruits are berries with more or less sweet 

 juice. The seeds are suspended on long stalks. 



SaxifragacE;E. — The fruit is a capsule, which, as in so many 

 cases, opens at the top, so that the seeds are jerked out by the 

 wind. As a rule they are very small. Those of S. o]jpositifolia are 

 decidedly papillous, which would tend to make them adhere the 

 more closely to the fur of animals. 



In Parnassia and Drosera, as in some other plants of a similar 

 habit (Narthecium, etc.), the testa is spongy and loose in texture. 



