222 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



SPIDER-FLOWER- 



Cleome-spinosa 



July-August 



A curious flower, in- 

 troduced from the trop- 

 ics, flourishing amaz- 

 ingly in our gardens, 

 and often escaping into 

 waste places. The plant 

 always has a shabby, 



SPIDER-FLOWER 



unfinished appearance, 



as buds, blooms, and spindling, straggling seed- 

 vessels seem to outstrip the foliage. The seed-pods 

 are borne on exceedingly long and slender stems. 

 They consist of two very loose lids enclosing a loop 

 full of seeds. The two lids tend, in drying, to curl 

 back from stem to tip, which they do with violence, 

 when very slightly jostled, throwing the many 

 seeds in every direction. The spider-flower is 

 worth growing for the mere fun of seeing the pods 

 explode. 



The shooting of seeds so far described is accom- 

 plished by a genuine catapult movement of a stiff 

 spring, or springs, held in tension and suddenly 

 released. But another way of shooting seeds is 

 through compression. The inner lining of the seed- 

 vessel shrinks and pinches the seed till it "flips" out, 



