THE FR^riT AND THE SEED 



275 



cases, as in the Poppy and Ladies' Fingers, the capsules are 



placed on long stalks, which the wind shakes with so much force 



that the se^ds are thrown away 



as from a sling. In the Orchids 



the seeds, which are minute and 



light, are scattered also by the 



wind. 



(d) Dispersed by animals 

 and birds. — This is done either 

 unconsciously or consciously: iin- 

 consciously , when the seeds by 

 their hooks and bristles (e. g., in 

 Triumfetta, or in Urena lobata) 

 become attached to the skin of 

 animals, or by the sticky mass of 

 their pulp (Loranthus) to the beaks 

 of birds which carry them away: 

 consciously, when animals or birds, attracted by the bright 

 colour and the fragrant smell of succulent berries and drupes, 

 revel upon the sweet, soft flesh, but reject the seeds (Mango). 

 If they swallow the seed also, the latter is enabled to resist the 

 action of digestion by its hard covering and passes through the 

 animal undigested (Coffee, Fig). 



Fig. '274. — Seeds of Yernonia 

 dispersed by wind. 



JD, How the seeds produce new plants. ^ 



When a seed has thus finished its journey and has found 

 favourable conditions (warmth, moisture, and air) on the spot 

 where it has finally settled, it awakes from the state of rest in 

 which the germ contained in it has tided over a season that 

 might have been fatal to its life, and begins to germinate. 

 First it absorbs moisture through its skin. This, combined with 

 warmth and the oxygen of the air, sets up a change in the 

 condition of the seed. The germ swells, breaks the seed-skin, and 

 begins to grow: the tiny root of the embryo lengthens and grows 

 downwards, while the hypocotyl stretches upwards. For this 

 first process of growth the young plant requires the food-store 



