386 



The Living Plant 



creep appreciable distances within a few hours, and which, when 

 placed with clothes in a drawer, burrows among these in a fashion 

 quite uncanny. Hygroscopic movements also aid dissemination 

 indirectly; for hygroscopic hairs, or equivalent structures, in some 



Pig. 152.— The pod of a Violet projecting 

 its seeds by a method explained in the 

 text. 



Fig. 153. — The Squirting Cucumber, pro- 

 jecting its seeds as explained in the 

 text. 



Orchids, Mosses and other plants, push seeds or spores from the 

 interior of the capsules to the surface, where they can be reached 

 and transported by action of the wind. Hygroscopic movements 

 have also a part in the final bursting of seed pods in some of the 

 cases described a page or two earlier. 



But the method of projection, though effective in principle, 

 has marked lunitations, since the maximum distance to which 

 seeds can be thrown, no matter how great the power may be, does 

 not exceed a dozen or two feet. This is enough for very small 

 plants and limited spread, but does not suffice for much larger 

 kinds or a wider dispersal. It is fortunate, therefore, that a 



