LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



straightaway course, each one whirling along its 

 individual path through space, as though by 

 some surprising instinct it had selected that par- 

 ticular course. Some went flying far away, while 

 others alighted upon the banks of the cutting at no 

 great distance from the tree, just according to the 

 impetus with which they each started off. Also, 

 it at once became obvious that these objects 

 were not insects. In fact, one erratic member has 

 just landed at my feet here, and, of course, it is a 

 winged sycamore seed or, if you prefer it, a syca- 

 more ^^ke3^" 



Yes, the sycamore has finished its season's 

 work. The tree has been exceedingly busy from 

 the earliest hours of spring until now, preparing to 

 meet these blustering winds that suddenly rise 

 in autumn, and now to each worthy gust it 

 offers a number of its offspring ; for it may 

 well be said that the sycamore's ^^keys" are its 

 children. Indeed, while watching each little 

 party start off with each succeeding breeze, I 

 can almost imagine I hear the tree saying, '^ There, 

 my children, I have done my best for you ; now 

 go out into the world and prosper." 



What the parent has done for each of its off- 

 spring is to provide it with two nurse-leaves which 

 will feed and nourish the baby sycamore plant 

 until it can spread its own leaves out to the sun- 

 light, and send down its own little root into the 

 soil, and so feed itself Furthermore, the tree has 

 protected each of its seeds and their nurse-leaves 

 iDy a strong outer covering, one side of which is 



i8 



