THE ITARE'BELL TRIBE. 17^ 



the flower itself (fig. 5.), and at last a general dryness, 

 hardness, and brownness, announce that the ripening 

 of the fruit is accomplished. But how are the dust- 

 like seeds ever to find their way out of this lidless box, 

 or to penetrate its tough sides ? Considering what 

 happens in so many other plants, we should natu- 

 rally expect that it would take place by a separation 

 of the edges of the three carpels into valves, near 

 their points ; but upon looking at the top of the 

 ovary between the sepals, we find that part still 

 tougher than the sides, and without the slightest ap- 

 pearance of an opening. It is by a rending of the 

 thinnest part of the sides of the fruit, in the fork of 

 the three principal ribs (fig. 5. a.), that these 

 valves are produced, and that nature provides for 

 the escape of the seeds ; the rending takes place 

 upon the final drying of the sides of the fruit, 

 when every part becomes stretched so tight, that 

 any weak portion must of necessity give way. As 

 the stretching takes place with uniformity, and as the 

 skin at the forks of the ribs is always more tender 

 than any other part, the opening of the valves will 

 consequently occur with the same invariable certainty 

 as the formation of the seeds. 



Do not, however, suppose that this curious contri- 

 vance is characteristic of the Hare-bell tribe : on the 

 contrary, it is only characteristic of the Hare-bell 

 genus ; for in other genera, the fruit opens by a sepa- 

 ration of the points of the carpels in the usual way ; 

 the tension of the sides consequently does not take 

 place, and no lateral openings being necessary, none 

 are ever formed. 



