FEUITS AND SEEDS 



131 



kinds of plants, none of which was taken to the island 

 by man. How did they get there ? Some of them 

 from seeds carried by the waves ; others from 

 seeds borne by the wind, and the rest from seeds 

 left by passing birds. Well, we shall look 

 at all those ways and at others besides. 



When we examined the scarlet geranium 

 we found that the seeds were slung away 

 from the parent-plant ; and we shall look 

 first of all at this plan for spreading seed. 



4. Seeds that are jerked out of the 

 Fruit. All the different kinds of geraniums 

 — garden and wild — have this way of 

 spreading their seed. When you see a plant 

 bearing a seed-ease that looks 

 like a stork's bill, long and 

 pointed, you may be sure that 

 it is a member of this family. 

 If the seed-case be quite ripe, 

 you may find that it requires 

 only a touch to make it fire off 

 the seed. In a wild state, the 

 F\(, (^5 plant often gets this touch 

 from a passing animal, and 

 there is a good chance that the 

 seed will catch on the fur and get a free ride. 



Eipening seed-cases of a 

 Stork's bill. 



5. But all the plants that use this plan do not sling 

 out the seed like the geranium. Look for a ripe pod 

 of the little field-sorrel, with the yellow flowers. You 

 will find plenty of them in late spring and in autumn 

 in most fields. When the pod is ripe, it fires out the 

 seed by suddenly twisting up the pod, just as you can 



