DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS. 83 



many plants are furnished for the purpose of distributing their 

 seeds, and which are often highly interesting, as displaying 

 the wisdom and design of Providence in the lower orders of 

 creation. 



In several species of plants, the pericarps, as they become 

 dry, open with a jerk, and thus throw the seeds they contain, 

 several feet, or even yards, in all directions. The common 

 garden flower, Touch-me-not, (Impatiens,) is an example. 

 In some of the Ferns, (an order of plants which bear their 

 seeds on the backs of their leaves, or fronds,) a similar pro- 

 vision may be observed. On examining a plant of this tribe 

 in autumn, small spots will be seen on the back of the frond, 

 at little distances from each other, and sometimes crowded 

 together. These are the organs of re-production, and are 

 called sort. The seeds are furnished with elastic springs, by 

 which, when fully ripe, they are thrown to the distance of a 

 foot or more. These seeds are exceedingly minute, but on 

 placing a frond on a sheet of white paper, the effect may be 

 observed by their distribution over its surface. 



The little pods of the Furze, (Ulcx,) with the same design, 

 are made to burst with an explosion, when the seeds are fully 

 ripe. In dry, still weather, the snapping, or explosion, thus 

 produced, may be heard to a considerable distance. 



Many seeds, as already stated, are furnished with a pappus, 

 or egret. Among these, the Dandelion, the Thistle, and the 

 Colt's Foot, are the most common examples. This appendage 

 constitutes the wings of such seeds ; and who, after having 

 seen the air filled with the germs of these species, thus taking 

 their flight from one place to another, can for an instant doubt 

 that this downy apparatus was given them with the express 

 design of their thus fulfilling two of the great ends of nature, 

 the perpetuity and distribution of the species. These often 

 continue their migrations, says Dr. Smith, " till they are 

 overtaken by a shower, which, moistening their wings, stops 

 their further flight, and at the same time, accomplishes iis 

 final purpose, by immediately promoting the germination of 

 each seed in the moist earth." 



In what manner may the spontaneous distribution of fern seeds be ob- 

 served ? In what manner do the pods of the furze distribute its seeds ? 

 What is the use of the pappus, or down, with which many seeds are fur- 

 nished ? 



