58 WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 



enables the heavy seed to float away from its 

 parent. In common with those of the Maple, 

 the Sycamore seed vessels go round and round, 

 and thus retard the rapidity of their fall to the 

 ground. The golden long-stemmed blossoms of 

 the Lime are developed with a green bract, and 

 this appendage remains until the late summer. 

 When the ripening of the seed has come about 

 the whole process is detached from the tree, and 

 as soon as it is in the air the use of the bract 

 becomes apparent. The seed capsules are heavy, 

 and pull the device into an upright position, in 

 which state, as it falls, it commences to revolve 

 with amazing rapidity. This induces a very 

 leisurely fall, and, of course, all the while the process 

 is sinking it is being carried farther afield by the 

 breeze. The small seeds of the Birch are sur- 

 rounded by a membranous expansion which, as 

 the vessels leave the tree, catches the wind and 

 away they sail not to settle down, perhaps, until 

 they are some hundreds of yards away from the 

 starting point. 



Not a few plants rely upon water as the means 

 by which their seeds are distributed. The strange 

 double Coco-nut, the fruit of a Coco Palm, was a 

 tremendous puzzle to early navigators, who very 

 often found specimens floating in the sea many 



