330 



BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



becomes concave and pulpy, while the achenes produced by the 

 numerous flowers are contained within it (Fig. 255). Lastly, the 



perianth may be persistent, as it is in 

 each of the aggregated flowers of the 

 Mulberry, and becoming pulpy they 

 embed the true fruits, which are 

 achenes (Fig. 256). It is needless to 

 multiply instances. Those quoted 

 suffice to show how various are the 

 parts that offer attractions by their 

 succulent development to fruit-eating 

 animals. Colour, scent, flavour and 

 organic content, all attract them to 

 these fruits as food. In the haste of 

 feeding they do not exclude, but bolt 

 the seeds, which may thus be carried 

 by them internally to a distance before 

 being voided with their excreta. 



In these cases the animal is an un- 

 witting agent. Another method, less 

 effective but still to be reckoned with, 

 is by means of intentional transfer of 

 fruits or seeds for the animal's own purposes. Squirrels, some birds, 

 and ants hoard stores of food in the form of nuts, etc. ; sometimes 

 the store is not fully exhausted, so that the live seeds germinate apart 

 from the parent plant. But more exact results 



come where masses of esculent tissue, often contain- 

 ing oil, occur on the surface of the seed, in the form 

 of caruncles, as in the Violaceae, Euphorbiaceae 

 (Fig. 479, vii.-viii., Appendix A), and Leguminosae. 

 Observations have been made on the actual transfer 

 of the seeds of Gorse by ants, and the spread of that 

 plant on certain moor-lands can be definitely ascribed 

 to this agency. 



Lastly, man himself is the most potent agent in 

 the distribution of plants, though his influence is a " Mulberry" com- 

 as often destructive as constructive. He consciously K^su^uient"^- 

 introduces plants of economic value to new areas, ^ nths e P close eac £ a 



1 » dry achene. (Alter 



and clears off the native flora to make way for their F »g™er.) 

 cultivation. But he also unconsciously carries with him the seeds 

 of certain plants, which appear as " weeds " wherever he goes. The 



Fig. 255. 



Succulent hollowed axis of the inflores- 

 cence of the Fig, bearing achenes within. 

 (After Figuier.) 



