ADAPTATIONS OF FRUITS AND SEEDS 

 FOR DISPERSAL AND PROTECTION 



The perfected fruit — how it suggests both the 

 backward and the forward look : backward over 

 the stages of growth which have produced it, 

 forward to the stages of growth which are 

 potential within it. 



" My heart is awed within me when I think 

 Of the great miracle which still goes on 

 In silence round me — the perpetual work 

 Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed 

 Forever." — Bryant. 



Miracle, indeed, it is that inclosed within the 

 seed is the power to burst its bonds, to utilize 

 its stored food material, to gather nutriment 

 from earth and air, to grow and to produce again 

 a seed capable of continuing the life of the species 

 from which it has sprung. 



For the development of this, however, certain 

 conditions are necessary. The new plant must 

 have room in earth and air for its best growth. 

 If the seeds of a plant all started life in the 



