21fc DISPERSION 01 



example of the latter, and the Ash and Maple of the 

 former. The seeds of Bignonia, present still more 

 perfect examples of winged seeds, enclosed in a cap- 

 sule, and the naked seeds of many umbellate plants 

 have an alated or winged margin. 



Seeds are sometimes furnished with spines, hooks, 

 and various other appendages all designed for their se- 

 curity while living, and for their subsequent dispersion. 



" In general, however, smoothness is characteristic 

 of a seed, by which it best makes its way into the soft 

 earth, though it is sometimes barbed, or at least its 

 covering, as in the Feathergrass, that it may not easily 

 be withdrawn again by the powerful feathery appen- 

 dige of that plant, which after having by its circum- 

 volutions forced the seed deeper and deeper, breaks 

 off a joint, and flies away."* 



The Dispersion of seeds is so intimately connected 

 with these appendages, that the examination of the one 

 imperceptibly leads to the contemplation of the other. 

 Destitute of this inherent power, they would fall 

 around the parent stem in such a situation as to pre- 

 vent their growth, and probably to terminate the exis- 

 tence of the tribe. The means of dispersion are all 

 too curious, and the subject is too important to be pass- 

 ed by unnoticed. 



Water is one of the vehicles' by which they are con- 

 veyed to a distance from their original habitation. 



By the currents of the ocean, the seeds of West 

 India vegetables are frequently conveyed to the coast 

 of Norway where they refuse to grow merely in con- 

 sequence of the unfavourable climate in which they 

 are deposited. 



* Smith 



