DISPERSION. 



3°7 



it were not caught and retained by the long fila- 

 ments. It is probable that the object is to obtain a 

 more perfect maturity of the seeds before they drop 

 to the ground. 1 



There is probably some 

 relation in principle between 

 the suspension of the. seeds 

 in gahnia to what takes place 

 amongst the members of one 

 or two families of trees. For 

 instance, the mangroves, 

 which inhabit the swamps 

 on the margins of great 

 rivers, generally retain their 

 seeds suspended to the 

 branch until after germina- 

 tion has commenced, and 

 when they drop it is into the 

 soft mud, where they imme- 

 diately take root. In like 

 manner some of the Mag- 

 nolias have the seeds sus- 

 pended at the end of the umbilical cords from the 

 margins of the carpels, presumably in order that they 

 may reach a proper degree of maturity before they 

 fall. Examples of this kind are not numerous, but 



Fig. 62. — Fruit of Gahnia 

 xanthophylla suspended. 

 " Gardener's Chronicle." 



1 "Gardener's Chronicle," December 13, 1873. 

 x 2 



