SEED SOWING 



219 



plant, also, to become a cut- 

 ting that would sprout wher- 

 ever accident should plant it, 

 for we know how easily frag- 

 ments of the cacti take root 

 from cuttings. 



CATAPULT SEEDS 



The foregoing methods of 

 seed and plant dispersal all 

 depend upon some outside 

 agency, but there are many 

 plants so self-reliant that they 

 attend to their own seed-sow- 

 ing, which they accomplish by 

 means of various slings and catapults of their in- 

 vention. 



The wild geranium as it "goes to seed" develops 

 its pistil into a long cylinder, inside of which stiff 

 springs are formed, each spring connected with a 

 small seed-pod at the calyx. In this state, the seed- 

 pod and calyx strongly resemble a miniature candle 

 in a candle-stick, as shown in the sketch on the left. 

 When sufficiently ripe and dry, however, the little 

 springs gain force enough to burst out of their 

 places and to curl up suddenly, thus shooting the 

 seeds off in every direction and a long distance 



WILD GERANIUM 



