232 



BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS 



CHAP. 



(3) The seeds or fruits may be scattered by clinging to the 

 wool or hair of animals. 



(4) The seeds and portions of the fruits may be scattered by 

 animals swallowing them ; after passing through their bodies, 

 the seeds may germinate. 



Seeds Scattered by the Wind. The seed or fruit 

 often has wing-like appendages which make their superficial 

 area greater and so much lighter in proportion to their bulk. 

 When seeds or fruits of this kind are liberated from the parent 

 plant, they fall slowly through the air, not straight down, but in 

 zigzag lines, like the movements of a roolc or lapwing, through 

 the air. 



The pappus of hairs which is produced from the calyx in the 

 Dandelion aids in the dispersal of the fruits. In the Poppy and 

 Larkspur the seeds lay loose at the bottom of the fruits, and 

 when the wind blows the fruit from side to side the seeds are 

 gradually distributed far from the parent plant. The following 

 table shows how a number of common seeds and fruits are 

 scattered by the wind : 



i. The fruits of the Ash, Sycamore, Elm, and Birch, have 

 appendages which carry them for a long distance from the 

 parent plant. 



FIG. 229. Fruit of Dandelion. FIG. 230. Ripe fruit of Sycamore. 



2. The fruits of the Dandelion, and most Composite possess 

 a pappus of hairs, and are in this way carried through the air 

 by the wind. 



