84 A WALKING SEED. [CHAP. 



this happen several times, and thus the young plant 

 seems to select certain places in preference to others. 

 They have been observed for instance to quit the 

 leaves, on which they must often alight, and move on 

 to the stem. 



Another very interesting genus, again of the same 

 family, is Myzodendron (Fig. 49), a Fuegian species, de- 

 scribed by Sir Joseph Hooker, and parasitic on the Beech. 

 Here the seed is not sticky, but is provided with four 

 flattened flexible appendages. These catch the wind 

 and thus carry the seed from one tree to another. As 

 soon, however, as they touch any little bough the arms 

 twist round it and there anchor the seed. 



In many epiphytes the seeds are extremely numer- 

 ous and minute. Their great numbers increase the 

 chance that the wind may waft some of them to the 

 trees on which they grow ; and as they are then fully 

 supplied with nourishment they do not require to 

 carry any store with them. Moreover their minute 

 size is an advantage, as they are carried into any 

 little chink or cranny in the bark ; while a larger or 

 heavier seed, even if borne against a suitable tree, 

 would be more likely to drop off. In the genus 

 Neumannia, the small seed is produced at each end 

 into a long filament which must materially increase its 

 chance of adhering. 



Among terrestrial species there are not a few 

 cases in which plants are not contented simply to 

 leave their seeds on the surface of the soil, but actually 

 sow them in the ground. 



Thus in Trifolium subterraneum, one of our rarer 

 English Clovers, only a few of the florets become 



