82 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



nut, which live near the water's edge, and their bal- 

 loons are likely to be lost at sea unless some special 

 provision is made to save the children in case the 

 balloon falls into the water. To this end they have 

 made their three gas compartments, each of which 

 carries a tiny sailor, safely guarded in an air-tight 

 room ; and, if by chance the bladdernut grows tired 

 of sailing in the air, it may easily light in the water, 

 and glide along as smoothly as a water- fowl or a 

 man-made hydroplane. 



The children of the linden travel by means of a 

 kite-like appendage, which may be used as a life- 

 preserver in case the seed falls into the water. The 

 narrow-leafed dock, another plant which grows 

 near the water, carries a life-preserver attached to 

 its seeds. If for any reason the seeds become sep- 

 arated from their preservers, they immediately sink 

 beneath the water and are lost. 



Many of the grasses and sedges travel by means 

 of boats, canoes, and rafts. In the genus Carex, 

 the fruit grows in a tiny canoe ; and many the craft 

 that silently lands its happy passenger in a place of 

 safety! In the arrowhead, the cat-tail flag, butter- 

 cups, and cinquefoil, there is always some form of 

 sail, boat, canoe, or raft, by which the seeds may 

 be saved from shipwreck. These life-preservers 

 are usually in the form of woody or paper-like ap- 



