296 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



as we were at first ?ceptical, with others, it is with 

 greater pleasure that we recant. 



Passing now to atmospheric dispersion, the seeds 

 of composite plants are transported from place to 

 place, chiefly by means of the pappus with which 

 they are crowned. Although varying in different 

 species, this coronet has but one purpose, the disper- 

 sion of the plant. " Elevated on the apex of a long 

 beak, the parachute of the seed of the goatsbeard 

 {Tragopogon pratensis) consists of a number of 

 slender spokes, which diffuse themselves circularl}-, 

 and are " telarly interwoven," somewhat after the 

 fashion of the spider's web. This comparatively 

 intricate structure is given as a countervail to the 

 great size and weight of the seed. The down of 

 the dandelion is supported on a long and slender 

 pedicle, and is an object of vulgar admiration ; but 

 it scarcely equals in beauty the similarly patterned 

 fruit of the helminthia. The thistle's-down is, on 

 the contrary, sessile — the threads being sometimes 

 only spinous, at other times plumed like a feather — 

 and the down of the latter is peculiarly light. The 

 coronet of the carlinc thistle is remarkable for its 

 elegance and circular spread and plumage, and 

 buoys easily its silky-coated seed. In the sow 

 thistles what we most admire is the ribbed and 

 striated seeds, but the down that diffuses them is 

 abundant and of pure whiteness. The seeds of the 



