DIS TRIB UTION OF SEEDS. I 6 1 



ovary or seed case to the top 

 (apex) of the central axis 

 or flower stalk. These rods 

 become tightly stretched when 

 the seeds, are ripe, so tightly 

 that at length they burst 

 away, and as they do so jerk 

 to a considerable distance the 

 five little fruits or carpels 

 containing the seed (Fig. 141). 

 On warm autumn days you 

 may hear the pods of many 

 of the butterfly plants bursting 

 and scattering the seeds, as 



tig. 141. Fruit of Geranium- 



A, before dehiscence ; B, after also the siliquas (p. 144) of the 



dehiscence ; s, pedicel ;/, loculi 



of the ovary which is prolonged Cruciferae (cross bearers). In 

 coTu UiL" the stork's bill, another species 



dehiscence ; ;/, the stigma. o f t } ie geranium order, the 

 seeds are scattered as in the Herb-Robert. 



Some seeds have a twisted rod or awn something 

 like a corkscrew. If the weather is damp, the rod 

 untwists and lengthens ; if dry, it contracts again ; and 

 so, as some think, the seed is enabled to travel some 

 little distance. Others, however, think that this 

 movement is for the purpose of forcing the seed 

 into the ground. 



If you walk through a wood you will probably 

 carry out the wishes of certain kinds of plants in 

 distributing their seeds. Have you never found 



12 



