36 BOTANY OF LA SALLE COUNTY. 



in his enemies and given them a foothold they could 

 not have otherwise obtained. Many of what are our 

 most common weeds have thus been imported from the 

 Old World. 



But many seeds are born travelers. The seed of the 

 dandelion, lettuce and thistle, milkweed and many 

 others have a sort of plume attached to them, which 

 enables even a gentle breeze to bee.r them far from 

 their native place and scatters them far and wide, 

 The seeds of the maple and some other trees have 

 wing-like appendages, which enable them to sail on a 

 strong wind to a considerable distance. 



Some seeds are greedily eaten by cattle and having 

 hard and impervious coats and many of them not being 

 broken by the teeth, pass through the stomach and 

 intestines free from harm and left in an excellent con- 

 dition for germination. Birds in like manner scatter 

 many seeds far and wide and sometimes rather large 

 ones, the wild pigeon having a strong liking for acorns. 

 Other seeds, as the cocklebur, beggarticks, the fruits 

 of geum and several other plants are provided with 

 hooks or barbed teeth with which they lay hold of every- 

 thing that touches them and thus become attached 

 to the hair of animals. Thus they may be carried 

 many miles and scattered over a wide territory. A gen- 

 tleman residing in South Ottawa informs us that he 

 can remember when the cockle bur was unknown here 

 and that it was brought by cattle driven here to feed. 

 Many seeds are very small and are easily carried along 

 in a lump of mud that may adhere to the feet or hair o 

 an animal and these may be carried long distances 

 before they are dropped, and if the circumstances 

 under which they are left favors germination and 

 growth, they soon make themselves at home. 



