84 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
retain, comparatively speaking, a considerable amount 
of moisture and grit of one sort and another. 
A fruit of this plant commonly contains more than 
forty seeds, and of course if they all germinated in a 
cranny where there was room for only one adult the 
seedlings would be so crowded that all of them could 
not possibly thrive and attain to maturity. We must, 
however, remember that the number might be reduced 

Fic. 29.—Fruitlet of the Storksbill. x14. 
A, dry and closely coiled. B and C, wet; B partially and C fully uncoiled. 
The seed is at (y). As the spiral uncoils the scythe-like end (s) catches in the 
surrounding herbage and forces the pointed end (p) into the soil. Should it dry 
and coil up again the hairs upon (p) prevent that end from being dislodged, but 
the smooth scythe will slip. The side bristles (b) help to maintain the upright 
position as the fruitlet slips through the herbage to the ground. 
by ants and other means, and, even if it were not, 
the struggle for existence among so many seedlings, 
where only one could survive, would be so fierce 
as to ensure the best one winning, and this, as we know 
already, is one of the objects that Nature never loses 
sight of : she always likes the best man to win. 
So much, then for the Ivy-leaved Toad-flax ; but 
there are just a few plants in our own Flora that go one 
