CHICKWEED. 107 



tiny mirror-like petals, so arranged as to 

 catch and to reflect every wandering sunbeam. 

 Bending, when the perfecting of the seeds 

 seems to require a downward position ; or, 

 perhaps, if it be allowable to hazard a con- 

 jecture, which, as regards the vegetable eco- 

 nomy in this respect, must be conjectural, the 

 capsule is reversed because the plant grows 

 on dry places, where little moisture can be 

 imbibed by the roots, in order that its vessels 

 may draw in more copiously the heavy night- 

 dews which descend at the season of its 

 flowering. But when the influence of the 

 sun is especially required to ripen the fully- 

 formed seeds, the stem gradually straightens, 

 and the heav}^ laden seed-vessel is held up 

 to catch its beams. Thus it remains till 

 again gradually resuming its downward po- 

 sition the seeds are deposited in the earth. 



Who, that looks upon one of these small 

 seeds, brown, and rough, and thickly coated. 



