LUTHER BURBANK 



pulpy covering with a thick green skin, and its 

 bulb and hook suggest some kind of gourd. 



When the seeds within are mature, the outside 

 covering splits and peels away, disclosing a seed 

 nest which is armored with spines more tliickly 

 than a prickly pear. That which, during its early 

 stages, formed the hook, now spreads into two 

 branches with pointed ends sharper than pins, 

 almost as sharp as needles. 



Between these four-inch hooks, where they join 

 the spiny bulb behind them, there appears a hole 

 from which the seeds, if loosened from their 

 former pulpy support, may, by pounding and 

 thumping, find their way out into the world. 



As the seed pod lies on the ground, its sharp 

 hooks coiled in exactly the right position, it awaits 

 a passing animal. This spring trap may remain 

 set for many months, but once an animal, big or 

 small, steps between those fish-hook points, their 

 mission is accomplished. The first slight kick or 

 struggle to get away imbeds them deeply, and at 

 each succeeding struggle the hooks bite in, and in, 

 and in, until finally the animal, in its eft'orts for 

 release, pulls the seed pod from the plant and 

 starts to run. 



Swinging to a leg or tail, suspended by the two 

 sharp points of its prongs, the spiny housing of 

 the seed pod comes now into plaJ^ At each bound 



[102] 



