240 GLIMPSES IXTO I'LAXT-LIFE 



ninety days in water. An asparagus plant with 

 mature berries, when dried, floated for eighty-five 

 days, and the seeds afterwards grew vigorously. 

 Out of ninety-four plants experimented upon, 

 eighteen floated for more than a month and some 

 for three months, their germinating power not 

 being destroyed. In quite a large number of 

 species the plants themselves possess the means 

 necessary to distribute the seed. It is true the 

 distance traversed by each seed may not be great, 

 but it is sufficient to give the seed a new field of 

 growth. This power varies in different species. It 

 is perhaps best defined as elastic force, and in the 

 majority of cases the seed is actually thrown away 

 from the parent plant by the expenditure of this 

 force. The seed-pod is generally m a state of 

 tension, due to the gradual drying up of the 

 tissues. Then a puff of wind, a slight blow, or 

 even a change in the atmospheric condition of the 

 air, gives the final impetus, causing the pod to 

 burst with such force that seeds are throvvai out in 

 all directions. The fibro-vascular cords are often 

 found crossing the pod in an oblique direction, or 

 even in a spiral manner, so that fin all}-, as the)' 



