THE NOVEMBER SEED-CROP 



69 



Pig. 39. Two "seeds" 

 that often steal a 

 ride with us: a, 

 sweet cicely (Osmo- 

 rhiza); b, pitchforks 

 (Bidens). 



Some take a ride by water, and to aid their 

 navigation, develop water-repellant seed- 

 coats, boat-shaped forms, corky floats, etc. 

 Finally, some develop automatic ejectors 

 like the capsules of the touch-me-not or 

 jewel-weed, which collapse with explosive 

 violence; or like the close-pinching hulls 

 of witch-hazel, which shoot out the seeds 

 to a distance of several yards. But most 

 seeds are featureless, as regards means of 

 dispersal. They merely fall, singly or in 

 clusters, and are moved about only with the chance 

 removal of the soil with which they mix. 



Among the curious devices for securing the aid of amimals 

 in seed-distribution none are more curious and interesting 

 than those shown by the common umbelwort known as 

 sweet cicely. The seeds (in their containers) are suspended 

 in pairs at the end of two slender stalks, their sharp points 

 directed downward, close to the stem. There are blunter 

 points directed outward, but the barbs all over the surface 

 appear to be directed the wrong way, as if to prevent getting 

 caught in wool. But when a furry coat pushes against 

 the outer end of a pair of these seeds, the blunt ends aided 

 by the opposing barbs catch just deeply enough to turn the 

 seeds end for end: in such position the long points enter 

 deeply, the barbs hold securely and the attachment at the 

 tip of the slender stalks is readily broken. This device needs, 

 but to be seen in use to be appreciated. 



Of wild seeds there is no end. It should be the object of 

 the following study to survey a small area to find the wild 

 allies of our cultivated seed crops, to observe the differences 

 in size and containers, and, form the means of dispersal of 

 as many as possible of £he others. 



