248 DR. E, p. PHILLIPS 



Owan wrote concerning the '^ Grapple Plant ■' fruit — 

 '• the crooked hooks cling fast to the beast's pastern, and 

 away he goes Avith the diabolical trap sticking to his 

 foot, limping, limping ever till he has trodden the tough 

 capsule to pieces and poached the seeds into the ground. 

 I keep a few of these contrivances at the herbarium to 

 show benevolent optimists who think this the best of 

 possible worlds, and to make them reconsider their easy- 

 going theories ". In Emcx coitropodiuni [Polygonaceae) 

 the ^-Duiveltjedoorn" (PL III. fig. 13.) the fruits are pro- 

 vided with three sharp spines; a very effective means 

 of distribution. 



Examples of plants with sticky fruits are found in 

 Plumbago spp. (Plumhagineae) (PL III. fig. 11.) and in 

 Boerhaavia (Nyctagineae) in the former case the per- 

 sistent calyx is covered with glandular hairs while in the 

 latter it is the fruit itself which is sticky. 



4. Contraction op Certain Tissues of the Fruits 

 OR Seeds. 



Several distinct methods may be recognised by which 

 seeds are scattered by contraction or expansion of the 

 plant tissue. 



(a) Certain cells in the fruit or seed are in a state 

 of tension and if suddenly released the fruits split and 

 the seeds are violently ejected. Examples of these explo- 

 sive fruits are found in Inipaticns, Barosma, Acanthaceae. 

 In some species of Oxalis it is not the fruit wall but part 

 of the seed coat which takes an active part in opening the 

 fruit. The cells of the seed swell considerably when ripe 

 so much so that the fruit wall is split and a violent 

 jerk is given to the enclosed seeds which fly through the 

 rent. 



(b) Certain tissues of the fruit become dessicated or 

 dried up. In si)ecies of Geranium the fruits are one- 

 seeded and the long style persists. When the seed is 



