320 FREAKS OF PLANT-LIFE. 



favourable one, the germinating embryo has the 

 power of changing its position. This is accom- 

 plished by the adhesive radicle raising the seed and 

 advancing it to another spot, or, to make the pro- 

 cess plainer, the disc at the end of the radicle 

 adheres very tightly to whatever it is applied to ; 

 the radicle itself straightens, and tears away the 

 viscid berry from whatever it has adhered to, and 

 raises it in the air. The radicle then again curves, 

 and the berry is carried by it to another spot, 

 where it adheres again. The disc then releases 

 itself, and by the curving about of the radicle is 

 advanced to another spot, where it again fixes 

 itself. This, Dr. Watt says, he has seen repeated 

 several times, so that to a certain extent the young 

 embryo, still within the seed, moves about. It seems 

 to select certain places in preference to others, par- 

 ticularly leaves. The berries on falling are almost 

 certain to alight upon leaves, and although many 

 germinate there, they have been observed to move 

 from the leaves to the stem, and finally fasten 

 there." 1 



1 N. E. Brown in " Gardener's Chronicle," July 9, 1881, p. 42. 



