THE CAPSULE AND ITS KINDS. 221 



The use of the Seed-vessel is to protect the seeds 

 till ripe, and then in some way or other to promote 

 their dispersion, either scattering them by its elastic 

 power, or servinij; for the food of animals in whose 

 dung the seeds vei^etate, or promoting the same end 

 by various other means. The same organ which re- 

 miiins closed so long as it is juicy or moist, splits and 

 flics asunder when dry, thus scattering the seeds in 

 weather most favourable for their success. By an 

 extraordinary provision of Nature, however, in some 

 ansiual species of Mesembryanthemum, / 178, na- 

 tives of sandy deserts in Africa, the seed-vessel opens 

 only in rainy weather ; otherwise the seeds might, in 

 that country, He long exposed before they met with 

 sufficient moisture to vegetate. 



1. Capsula, a Capsule, is a dry seed-vessel of a woody, 

 coriaceous or membranous texture, generally split- 

 tiiia- into several valves ; more rarely discharging its . 

 contents bv orifices or pores, as m Campanula and Pa- 

 paver ; or falling off entire with the seed. Internally 

 it consists either of one cell or several ; in the latter 

 case the parts which separate the cells are called dis- 

 sepimenta, partitions. The central column to which 

 the seeds are usually attached is named columella. 

 See Datura Stramonium, f. 179, Engl Bot, t. 1288. 

 Gaertner, a v/riter of primary authority on fruits and 

 seeds, reckon^ several peculiar kinds of Capsules, be- 

 sides what are generally understood as such ; these 



are 



Utriculus, a Little Bladder, which varies in thick- 

 ness, never opens by any valves, and falls off with the 



