i8o 



Fruits and Seeds. 



sules among the moss and leaves on the ground, 

 while the Dog Violet and others raise theirs boldly 

 above their heads and throw the seeds to seek their 

 fortune in the world ? If this arrangement be best 

 for the Dog Violet, why has not the Sweet Violet 

 also adopted it ? The reason is, I believe, to be 

 found in the different mode of growth of these two 

 species. The Dog Violet is a plant with an elon- 

 gated stalk, and it is easy therefore for the capsule 

 to raise itself above the grass and other low herbage 

 among which violets .grow. The Sweet Violet, on 

 the contrary, has, in ordinary parlance, no stalk, 

 and the leaves are radical, i.e., rising from the root. 

 This is at least the case apparently, though, botani- 

 cally speaking, they rise at the end of a short 

 stalk. Now, under these circumstances, if the 

 Sweet Violet attempted to shoot its seeds, the cap- 

 sule not being sufficiently elevated, the seeds would 

 merely strike against some neighbouring leaf, and 

 immediately fall to the ground. Hence, I think, 

 we see that the arrangement of the capsule in each 

 species is that which is most suitable to the general 

 habit of the plant. 



