154 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. ^ 



and grasses, will often be carried by the wind for 

 miles together. A well-known example of this 

 type is the sedge commonly though wrongly de- 

 scribed as cotton-grass. 



In other instances it is the seed, not the fruit, 

 that is winged or feathered. The pod of the wil- 

 low opens at maturity, and allows a large number 

 of cottony seeds to escape upon the breeze. The 

 same thing happens in the beautiful rose-bay and 

 the other willow-herbs. Cotton is composed of 

 the similar floating hairs attached to the seeds of 

 a sub-tropical mallow-like tree. 



You will have observed, however, that not one 

 of the fruits which I have hitherto mentioned is a 

 fruit at all in the common or popular acceptation 

 of the word. They are only at best what most 

 people call pods or capsules. A true fruit, as most 

 people think of it, is coloured, juicy, pulpy, sweet, 

 and edible. How did such fruits come into exist- 

 ence, and what is the use of them? 



Well, just as certain plants desire to attract 

 insects to fertilise their flowers, so do other plants 

 desire to attract birds and beasts to disseminate 

 their fruits for them. If any fruit happened to 

 possess a coloured and juicy outer coat, or to show 

 any tendency towards the production of such a 

 coat, it would sooner or later be eaten by animals. 

 If the animal digested the actual seed, however, 

 so much the worse for the plant, and we shall see 

 by and by that most plants take great care to 

 prevent their true seeds being eaten and assimi- 

 lated by animals. But if the seed was very small 

 and tough, or had a stony covering, it would either 

 be passed through the animal's body undigested, 

 or else thrown away by him when he had finished 



