26 FLOWERS OF THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



myriad seeds an airy little balloon, of the finest and lightest 

 down, and it goes sailing away upon the wings of the wind like 

 another Montgolfier, whose famous aeronautics, indeed, this flying 

 plant antedated many ages. Who ever saw a sunny summer 

 day in the country when there were not multitudes of these fairy 

 globes, each with an embryo plant in its breast, sailing lazily 

 through the sultry air ! What images of lightness and grace are 

 these airy nothings from the thistle's white crown! They will 

 sail on and on, till the rain beats the buoyancy out of their 

 wings, and then they will come down with the raindrop, and be 

 planted far away from their native fields. 



I suppose most seeds are left to the ordinary chances of the 

 elements for dispersion and planting, but many of them are fur- 

 nished with special appliances for it. Some of these are purely 

 mechan.ical, the pod in which they grow being so contrived that 

 as it ripens it brings its sides into a state of tension, which 

 increases as the growth and ripening goes on, till at last it bursts 

 open with a sudden and violent spring which scatters the seeds 

 in every direction, sometimes many feet away. 



Then, again, other seeds are provided with barbed points, or 

 with sharp hooks which readily seize upon any passing object, 

 as the wool and hair of animals, perhaps the feathers of birds, 

 certainly the clothing of men, and are thus carried long distances 

 from their native home. Others, like the seeds of the maple 

 and trumpet-flower, have their gossamer wings, by which they 

 " fly away to be at rest " in some distant, hospitable soil. 



Many, like the thistle and dandelion, are furnished with buoy- 

 ant envelopes of feathery fibre, which make them the sport of 

 every breeze. This device, by which Nature disperses the seeds 



