SEEDS AND FRUITS CARRIED BY WIND 83 
the Thistle, Dandelion, Wild Lettuce, Fireweed, Ironweed, White 
Weed, Fleabane, and others, the tufts of downy hairs on the small 
dry fruits in which the seeds are enclosed enable the fruits with the 
seeds to be lifted and carried many miles by the wind. In the 
Milkweeds, the seeds bear long hairs which make them easily 
carried by the wind. In some plants, as in the Curled and Smocth 
Dock, Ash, Elm, and Maple, the fruits are winged and easily 
borne away by a passing breeze. The fruits of some of the 
Fic. 85. — Some fruits and seeds disseminated by the wind. a, fruits of the 
Basswood (Tilia Americana) and the leaf-like bract which floats in the air and 
thereby scatters the fruits. 6, samara or winged fruit of a Maple. , fruit of 
a Wild Lettuce (Lactuca Floridana). d, winged fruit of an Elm. e, pods of a 
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) allowing the seeds to escape to be scattered by 
the wind. a,c, and e from Hayden. 
Grasses are enclosed in chaff bearing long hairs and are easily 
blown about. The fruits and seeds of Ragweeds, Velvet-leaf, 
Docks, Pigweeds, Chickweeds, and some plants of the Grass fam- 
ily are blown long distances over the surface of snow, ice, or 
frozen ground. (Fig. 85.) 
Some plants break off near the ground after ripening their seeds 
and are rolled over and over by the wind, dropping their seeds as 
they go. These are known as the “‘tumble-weeds” and include 
the Russian Thistle, Tumbling Mustard, Tumbling Pigweed, 
Buffalo Bur, Old Witch Grass, and a number of others. (Fig. 86.) 
