130 GROWTH OP PLANTS. 



the seeds, which could not have germinated if they 

 had fallen on the dry ground, now sow themselves 

 naturally in a moist soil,, where they are able to grow, 

 and where the young plant may support itself." 



A number of seeds are so thin and light as to be 

 easily carried about by the winds, such as cotton grass, 

 virgin's bower, avens, dandelion, and thistle, which are 

 furnished with wings studded with down 1 to fly withal; 

 some other plants, such as the ash, the fir, and the 

 sycamore, have seeds with membranous wings 2 ; while 

 others are furnished with hooks for adhering to ani- 

 mals, as the burdock. The most interesting, however, 

 of these floating seeds, perhaps, are the minute bulbs 

 (if bulbs they are) of mosses, such as grow on walls 

 and trees, which being wafted about, as it would ap- 

 pear, in great numbers, and being so minute and light 

 as to easily adhere, soon cover a newly-built wall with 

 a thin green coating, mistaken by Linnaeus for a pecu- 

 liar plant which he termed silk moss 3 ; but proved 

 by Mr. J. Drummond, formerly of Cork, to be the 

 germinations of several common mosses. The green 

 matter of Dr. Priestley, produced on stagnant water, 

 has the same origin from moss seeds. 



GERMINATION. 



THE evolution of a young plant from a seed, which 

 is termed germination 4 , depends upon the seed itself 



(1) In Latin, Pappus, (2) 111 Latin, Alee. 



(3; In Latin, Byssus. (i) In Latin, Germinatio. 



