FRUITS AND SEEDS 



145 



but these help with their balloons to float away the 

 heavier ripe seeds. But, indeed, none of the seed is 

 heavy ; for it would take about 30,000 of them to 

 weigh as much as one broad bean ! 



6. Trees that have hairy seeds. Among the 

 trees, too, some make use of the balloon of hairs. 



Look at ripe seeds of the plane tree, 

 or of the willow, or of the oleander, 

 and you will see the hairy seeds 

 ready for a flight. Have you noticed 

 how tough the fruit-stalks of the plane 

 tree are, and how tightly they hold on 

 to the tree? Break up one of the 

 fruit balls, and you will find that the 

 seeds are feathered for flight. Now, 

 if the ball fell easily to the ground, 

 the seeds would have little chance of 

 flying. Hence the balls hang on 

 tightly, often through the whole 

 winter, swinging and banging against 

 the wood in every gale, till the seeds 

 are loosened and fly away. 



7. Trees that have flat or winged seeds. But the 

 plan most in use among the trees that use the wind 



as a seed-carrier is that of the flat, 

 light seeds or winged seeds. Even among 

 low plants we find some that have seeds 

 of this kind, as in the flat, light seeds of 

 the Cape love-lily, and in the winged seeds 

 of the parsnip. But most of the seeds of 

 this kind grow high up in the air where 

 the wind has a chance to blow them to a 

 seeds of parsnip, distance The hop is not a tree, but it 



Fruit ball of plane 

 tree. The ball is be- 

 ginning to break up 

 to let tlie seeds es- 

 cape. 



