SEEDS. 211 



to the shaggy coats of animals. In due time the feath- 

 ery down separates and leaves the seed behind it, which 

 happens sooner in the Thistle than in most other 

 plants, and hence the vacant down of that genus is fre- 

 quently seen wafted in light masses over a whole coun- 

 try, which has not escaped the notice of Poets." 



Some writers apply the same term to the feathery 

 crown of seeds which are enclosed in a capsule, as in 

 the Oleander and Silk-weeds, and to the down which 

 envelopes the seeds of the Cotton grass and Willows. 

 Similar to these is the down which covers the seeds of 

 the Cotton Plant, and is enclosed like that of the Silk- 

 weed in a Capsule, which opens as the seeds are ma- 

 tured. 



Tail, Fig. 105. — This is the permanent style which 

 remains attached to some seeds, and assumes a feathery 

 or hairy appearance as in the Traveller's Joy and oth- 

 er species of Clematis. 



Beak, Fig. 102. — This term is applied to an elonga- 

 tion of the seed vessel, as in Geranium, Crane's-bill, 

 and to the slender summit of some naked seeds as in 

 Sweet Cicily and other umbelliferous plants. 



Awn, Fig. 63. — The awn is usually an appendage to 

 the flower and seeds of grasses, but is sometimes_ap- ' £ 

 pli ed to the be ak of naked^ jseeds. It is usually attach- • 

 ed to the coroll i, and arises from its base as in Foxtail 

 Grass, or from it* extremity as in Rye ; being straight x 

 as in Hair-grass, contorted and spiral as in the Oat, 

 and plumose in the Feather-grass. The contorted 

 Awn possesses the property of an' hygrometer, coiling 

 in dry wpather and again extending itself when the at- 

 mosphere is rilled with vapour. 



Wing. — This is a membraneous apppndage to seeds 

 or their capsules, Fig. 90. The Catalpa furnishes an 



