198 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
was gradually pushed out of the tube against the 
hairy bodies of the insects, and when these flew 
off to another head, the pollen went with them, and 
some of it got swept off by the stigma arms of older 
florets. That has happened to the-one we are 
examining, for you can see the pollen-grains adhering 
to it: it lengthened its style until all the pollen 
was pushed out—a ring of hairs below the arms 
making a clean sweep of it—then the arms separated 
and coiled downwards, as shown 
in the figure, and as they were 
now sticky, any insect carrying 
Dandelion-pollen that chanced to 
brush against them would be sure 
to leave a few pollen-grains upon it. 
As the fertilised seed-ege in- 
creases in size the corolla will fall 
off, the base of the calyx will grow 
long and slender, the calyx-hairs 
(pappus) will get larger and white, 
and spread out lke a parachute. 
Then any little breath of air will 
pull it away from the head, and 
Dandelion seed and’ pappus “it will sail away withomheromp 
containing the ripe seed, and will 
drop to the ground when the air becomes still or the 
parachute gets weighted with moisture. The fruit will 
drop point downwards and enter the soil, and as every 
movement of the air will move the parachute from 
side to side, the little barbs at the top of the fruit 
will work it farther into the soil, until the moisture 
causes the contained seed to germinate into a new 
Dandelion plant. 
WW yy We 
