THE NOVEMBER SEED-CROP 69 
Some take aride by water, and to aid their 
navigation, develop water-repellant seed- 
coats, boat-shaped forms, corky floats, etc. 
WY : ae 
\Z Finally, some develop automatic ejectors 
V2, like the capsules of the touch-me-not or 
6 
jewel-weed, which collapse with explosive 
violence; or like the close-pinching hulls 
Fig. 39. Two “seeds” of witch-hazel, which shoot out the seeds 
ride with us: o«, toadistanceof several yards. But most 
sweet cicely (Osmo- 
rhiea) bs pitchforks seeds are featureless, as regards means of 
dispersal. They merely fall, singly or in 
clusters, and are moved about only with the chance 
removal of the soil with which they mix. 
Among the curious devices for securing the aid of amimals 
in seed-distribution none are more curious and interesting 
than those shown by the common umbelwort known as 
sweet cicely. The seeds (in their containers) are suspended 
in pairs at the end of two slender stalks, their sharp points 
directed downward, close to the stem. There are blunter 
points directed outward, but the barbs all over the surface 
appear to be directed the wrong way, as if to prevent getting 
caught in wool. But when a furry coat pushes against 
the outer end of a pair of these seeds, the blunt ends aided 
by the opposing barbs catch just deeply enough to turn the 
seeds end for end: in such position the long points enter 
deeply, the barbs hold securely and the attachment at the 
tip of the slender stalks is readily broken. This device needs, 
but to be seen in use to be appreciated. : 
Of wild seeds there is no end. It should be the object of 
the following study to survey a small area to find the wild 
allies of our cultivated seed crops, to observe the differences 
in size and containers, and, form the means of dispersal of 
as many as possible of the others. 
