PEUITS AND SEEDS 



143 



does not always stop these plant-balls. One is piled 

 up on another, just as boys give each other " a back 

 up " in climbing a wall, and then a plant-ball comes 

 rolling up before a brisk wind and clears the fence ! 

 At Mildura the boys call a plant of this kind the " roly- 

 poly " Well, you can see how a tumble-weed like this 

 sows its seeds as it rolls over the plain. 



3. How the poppy scatters seed. Did you ever 

 notice how a poppy plant makes full use 

 of its height in getting its seed scattered? 

 Eound the root of the pretty seed-box is 

 a kind of eave, and under the shelter of 

 this eave you will find the holes by which 

 the seeds escape. Strike a ripe seed-pod, 

 and you may see some seeds fall out 

 easily, but others can be jerked out only 

 by a high wiad that throws them to some 

 distance. You see now why the poppy 

 head stands straight up as high as 

 it can reach, and why it has so stiff 

 a stem. 

 A balloon of silky hairs. Another plan for 



scattering seed, 

 much used by 

 ground plants, is 

 a balloon of silky 

 hairs. Nearly all 

 the flowers built 

 on the plan of the 

 dandelion have a 

 balloon of some 

 kind ; but the most 



oaead of dandelion, -with seed ready for flight, familiar plant to 



Poppy head, 

 ■showing the 

 holes by which 

 the seeds escape. 



