THE FIELD PANSY 159 



at the end of the awn, and this catches in the fur or 

 coat of any animal passing, and thus the seed at the 

 base of the awn is carried to a distance from the 

 parent plant. It eventually becomes detached, and 

 starts life on its own account. 



By comparing different stages in the formation of 

 the mature fruit, it will be found that the hook is not 

 formed at the actual tip of the awn. As the awn 

 matures, it develops a twist or kink at a little distance 

 from the end. At a later stage, the end of the awn 

 above the kink is thrown off altogether, and a sharp 

 point now terminates the fruit above the kink. The 

 apparatus is now mature. The pointed end, in con- 

 junction with the kink below it, acts quite like a fish 

 hook, and tends to stick into any rough substance 

 with which it is brought in contact. The stages in 

 the formation of the mature awn are shown in Text- 

 fig. XIV. 



THE FIELD PANSY. 



One of the first British plants which will be recog- 

 nised in an Alpine meadow is the Field Pansy or 

 Heart's-ease (Viola tricolor, Linn., natural order 

 Violacese, the Violet family). Though a humble plant, 

 it is interesting in several respects. The variation in 

 the colours of different flowers, and variety of colour 

 often observed in a single flower, ranging from purple 

 and yellow to white, is a feature in which this species 

 contrasts very markedly with the two other Violets 

 common in the Alpine zone, which we shall describe 



