136 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
‘attached to the two ends of this. As the fruit be- 
comes ripe these valves become very elastic and tense ; 
there is a strong pulling at 
) the axis, but as the valves are 
all pulling in different direc- 
tions they mutually neutralise 
such eftorts. But they are 
very irritable, and a slight 
touch upon the capsule or its 
stalk will cause the five valves 
at once to make this pulling 
effort and sever their connection with the tip of the 
axis. Each coils up with a sudden snap, and the seeds 
are scattered far and wide. 
Capsule valves coiling up and 
discharging seeds 
