56 WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 



up to find a well-established plant already in 

 possession of the field when their chance of 

 arriving at maturity is exceedingly remote. There 

 is no room for apprehension of this kind on behalf 

 of annual plants, and it is curious that, gener- 

 ally speaking, the provisions for wide seed dis- 

 tribution of these species are not so pronounced 

 as in the case of perennials. It is a very different 

 matter with plants which live for more than a 

 year, and many ingenious devices have been 

 brought into being to ensure the scattering of 

 the offspring over a wide area. 



Some of the most beautiful arrangements to 

 secure the passage of the seed are evinced in 

 those which are designed to be carried hither 

 and thither by the wind. A vast number of seeds 

 produced by the composite plants are contained 

 in vessels provided with appendages to enable the 

 processes to float away on the breezes. These 

 devices reach their perfection in the various mem- 

 bers of the Thistle family, which surround their 

 seeds with the most perfect flying apparatus 

 imaginable. Anyone who has watched a clump 

 of Thistles on a breezy autumn day must have 

 marvelled that the whole world has not long since 

 been crowded out by these aggressive weeds. 

 Every puff of wind raises the downy seeds from 



