46S 



KXcnVLEDGE. 



Decembek, 1911. 



FiGURl. 6. 



Pilose sfssiic 



pappus of 



Roush Haukhit 



catch the wind and bear the fruits miles and miles 

 over dr_\-, bare land, till some dam[)er spot is 

 reached, when, surrounded bv herbage, which arrests 

 the progress of the awn. and hv the unwinding 

 of tile corkscrew owing to the 

 moisture, the achene is forced into 

 the ground hx its sharp point and 

 there produces a new plant. The 

 Water Avens (Gciim paltistris) 

 (see Figure 3) produces an awned 

 fruit something lilsc that lA the 

 Tra\eller"s Joy. and the accom- 

 panying illust rat ions 

 (Figures 4 and 5) show 

 a series of magnified parts 

 of the aw n. The tip is slightly swollen anil 

 Sticky, and along the sides, amidst the long. 

 slender hairs, are some that are glandular. 

 The stickiness of these may be another 

 means b\- which the awn, after being 

 carried by the wind, can adhere to any 

 foreign body witli \\hich it ma\' come 

 into contact. 



What are known as " pajjpuses "' are 

 the structures formed as " after-growths " 

 from the calices of many plant-species as soon as 

 the blossoms die and their fruits begin to ripen for 

 dissemination. So light are they. e\en if stemmed, 

 that the wind can carry them great distances: 

 the faintest puff, and awa_\- flies the fair\- " clock " 

 or ball of siKer "down," oyer meadow and hedge, 

 away — far away — till it gets beyond our sight : 

 or we may see the wind drifting (i\er countless 

 myriads of pappuses on some area of bog-land 



long, slender white hairs encasing one tin\' fruit. 

 Then, upon the Black Poplar tree, in earl\- 

 summer, or on the ground beneath it. we ma\- see 

 hairy catkins that look just like tiny lambs' tails. 

 In reality these "tails" are onl\ aggregations of 

 satiny pappuses, each attached to a small seed. 



Of all the natural orders, the Compositae show- 

 most pappus heads, indeed they abound in the 

 species of b'ilago. Cud-weed, (iroundsel. Hawk's- 

 beard, Ragwort. Hawkweed, Hawkbit, Cornflower, 

 Knapweed, Fleabane, Colt's-foot. Dandelion, and 

 Goat"s-beard. Figure 6 shows one separate pappus 

 from Rough Hawkbit. This has the 

 hairs springing from the achene icifliDuf 



and Its 



pilose." 



Fioc 

 I'iii muse 

 pappus of 



Haul, 



KK /. 



sessile 

 Mouse-ear 

 \\ eed. 



where the Cotton Sedge grows 



ni ra 



id< I 



iixunance. 



swaying the snow-white hairy heads till the\- 

 look like breaking wayelets. gleaming as the\' 

 catch tile glint of passing sunbeams. In this 

 plant each [)appus consists of a tuft of soft. 



a stalk (hence is called sessile) 



slender hairs are unbranchcd. or 



In the Mouse - ear 



Hawkweed (see 



I'igure 7) the hairs 



are branched, or 



" plumose " as the 



botanical term is : 



and ill Dandelion 



(iMgure S) the}' are 



imbranched but haye 

 a- stem, and hence are said to 

 be pilose, "stipitate." 



The largest and most beauti- 

 ful of all English pappuses is 

 that borne by the Goat's-Beard, 

 one of the Compositae. in 

 which each separate fruit has a 

 mass of webbeti hairs at the 

 to[) of a long slender stalk, 

 forming a miniature parachute; 



and the massing together of the many huits into 

 one head forms a large, silyery, hair_\- ball, that is 

 one of the most exquisite structures one can ever 

 wish to stutl\- in all the wide held of wild nature. 



IlGL'KE 8. 



bse stipitate pappus 

 of tile Daiulcliiiu. 



-AIKTHORIC .SiioWl'R OF SEPTHMBHR 30x11. 

 Bv W. F. DENXIN'G, F.R..\.S. 



Ix the October number of "' Knowledge," I gave some 

 particulars of several fine meteors witnessed on September 2nd. 

 There occurred a somewhat similar display on September JOth. 



The nitjht was beautifully clear, and oflered an unusual 

 exhibition of cometary as well as meteoric phenomena, for no 

 less than three comets were visible to the nalied eye — two in the 

 evening, and one in the morning just before sunrise. 



I watched for meteors for about one-and-a-half hours before 

 midnight and saw sixteen, of which four were fairly conspicuous. 

 Mr. Sidney Wilson and Mrs. FiaininettaWilson.of Bexley Heath, 

 saw thirteen meteors, and three of these were seen at Bristol. 



.\ fireball brighter than Venus appeared at about 9.5, and it 

 was observed by Mr. H. Corder, at Bridgwater. He says it 

 gave a rather bright flash as it fell towards the western hori/^on, 

 and disappeared behind the Ouantock Hills. He only caught 

 about 6'" of the terminating portion of the flight, which was 

 directed from a Herculis from about 5° above fl Cygni. 



The same (bluish-white) meteor was noticed by Mr. Joseph 

 MacDermott. of Glasnevin, Dublin, who describes it as of 

 twice the brightness of Jupiter as seen with the naked eye. Its 

 observed position was a little S. of S.W'., and it fell from about 

 30' to 15° of altitude in a direction from Pegasus. 



.\ bright meteor was noticed by Miss Irene Warner, of 

 Bristol, at 10.5, falling from about 28° + 35° to 14° + 15° and 

 leaving a long red streak. 



.At 10.40, Mr. H. Denning saw a fireball descending in 

 X. by W. He could not, however, exactly locate the 

 place of the phenomenon as he saw it from Stokes Croft, 

 Bristol, where there is a good deal of artificial illumination 

 and obstruction by buildings. 



.\t 11 o'clock Mrs. Warner witnessed a bright meteor from 

 Horfield Common. It travelled slowly upwards from under 

 .Aldebaran to the planet Saturn and probably from a radiant 

 in the southern part of Taurus. The following are the real 

 paths of four meteors doubly observed on this notable night. 



Other observations of meteors on September 30th would be 

 very acceptable for comparison. 



