336 TlMEHRI. 



borne not only to all tropical shores, but even to the far 

 Cornish and Scottish coasts. Others send out long 

 runners, which bear flowers and seeds some distance 

 from the parent plant. Thus the creeping shoots of the 

 nanny-foot convolvulus described below run a hundred 

 feet and more along the ground. In others the seed 

 vessels become elastic and burst when ripe with a sort 

 of explosion, scattering the seeds in every direction. 

 This is the case with the wood-sorrels, a pretty little 

 erect kind of which, Oxalis Plumieri, known here as 

 "popguns," may be found everywhere in shady or half- 

 open places, with trefoil leaves and small pinkish-white 

 flowers stained with yellow in the centre. A smaller pros- 

 trate kind, with delicate olive-brown or green shamrock 

 leaves and yellow flowers, Oxalis corniculata, is a frequent 

 and not unwelcome weed in gardens and ferneries. But 

 the most notable instance of this type is the sand-box 

 tree (Hura crepitans), the woody rosette-shaped fruits 

 of which are commonly used here as paper-weights. 

 These burst with quite a loud report when ripe, projecting 

 their seeds twenty yards or more away. When they are 

 taken home as curiosities without being prepared as usual 

 by pouring melted lead into them, they are apt to cause 

 considerable alarm by going off in drawer or cupboard 

 some warm day like so many infernal machines. Before 

 blotting paper came into use, these fruits were used to 

 hold the fine sand that stood ready on every writing 

 table to sprinkle on the wet ink ; whence the name sand- 

 box tree. Then there is the endless series of berries 

 and succulent fruits, in which by every imaginable modi- 

 fication of form and colour, animals, and especially birds, 

 are invited to assist in the dispersion of the seed. Thus 



