856 



THE DISPERSION OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF FRUITS AND SEEDS. 



(e.g. Tillandsia; see fig. 475 2 ) only one pole of the seed is furnished with a tuft of 

 hairs, whilst in Adenium (see fig. 471 2 ), belonging to the family Apocynacese, both 

 poles are so provided. In Valerianaceae (e.g. Valeriana; see fig. 471 3 ) and in 

 Composite (e.g. Senecio and Taraxacum', see figs. 471 1 > 8 > 9 ) the tuft of hairs which 

 acts as a parachute springs from the upper extremity of the achene. Sometimes 

 the parachute and the body it keeps in suspension are connected by a slender stalk 

 (e.g. in Tillandsia and Taraxacum), but usually the former is directly sessile on 

 one extremity of the seed or indehiscent fruit as the case may be. In Verticordia 

 (see figs. 469 6> 7 - 8 ), of the family Myrtaceae, a strange and beautiful parachute is 

 formed by five petals which are in the form of little fans, each composed of ten 



Fig. 470. -Dispersion of fruits and seeds by the wind. 

 iBombax. * Anemone sylvestris. Gossypium Barbadense. 



feather-like lobes, and in some Labiate, as, for instance, Micromeria nervosa (see 



fig. 4710, the radiating, hair-studded segments of the fruiting calyx constitute a 



.milar apparatus. On the other hand, in several other Labiate (e.g. Ballota 



***), --any Plumbaginace* (e.g. Armeria; see fig. 468 '), and In several 



(e.g. Scabwa; see fig. 468 3) the parachute is developed from the delicate 



S Xr fr m ^ epiCalyX " N r MUSt ref to th 

 ^enteu m , one of the Proteacea,) be omitted. 



n 

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-utn o ' 6 P e 



