PLANTS HIDE THEIR BLOSSOMS 169 



it, "sow-bread," is another plant which buries its 

 seeds. When they are ripening, the flower-stalk 

 gradually twists itself spirally toward the earth, 

 and here it forces itself into the ground, hiding its 

 precious seeds from the ravages of birds and ani- 

 mals. Some botanists believe that these seeds 

 actually receive nourishment from the roots of the 

 plant, as they seem to grow in no other situation. 



"The wallflower, the wallflower, 



How beautiful it blooms ! 

 It gleams above the ruined tower, 



Like sunlight over tombs; 

 It sheds a halo of repose 



Around the wrecks of time 

 To beauty give the flaunting rose, 



The wallflower is sublime." 



A most important wall-creeper, Linaria cym- 

 balaria, hides its seeds but not underground. 

 This interesting wallflower, known as Kenilworth 

 ivy, or ivy-leafed toad-flax, has a delicate fragrance 

 making it doubly welcome as a guest on neglected 

 walls. It grows on old, decayed, stony walls, 

 usually where there is considerable moisture, and 

 its small, worm-like stalks twist their tiny seed-pods 

 into the little holes and crevices in the wall. Here, 

 when the seeds are ripe, the pods burst open and 

 plant them. In this way an entire wall soon be- 

 comes covered in moss-like fashion with these inter- 

 esting and human-like seed-sowers. 



