210 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



Queen Anne's lace, or wild carrot, converts its 

 dried flower-head into a kind of tumble weed. As 

 the seeds ripen you will notice that the flower- 

 cluster, originally a beautiful, flat cyme, curls in- 

 ward, and looks like a bird's nest, full of seeds. 

 Sometimes closing tightly into a ball, it eventually 

 breaks from the parent stem, and, in winter, goes 

 rolling and gliding over the snow. As it travels 

 thus, the seeds are shaken out as from a loose basket 

 and are distributed over fields and pastures, where 

 they cause no end of trouble to the farmers. 



There are other less conspicuous tumble weeds, 

 such as the Rose of Jericho, the Russian thistle, 

 tickle-grass, and peppergrass (Lepedium) , some of 

 which may be found in our locality. 



But while the wind can carry its burthen fast 

 and far, much of its cargo is wasted. As in the 

 Parable of the Sower, many of the seeds thus trans- 

 ported fall into unfavourable situations, and come 

 to nought. Water traffic is a slower but siu'er 

 means of carriage. 



SEEDS CARRIED BY WATER 



Seeds that grow beside the river's brink, and 

 fall into its tide, will be carried to other shores 

 where their environment will be favourable. No 



