192 



Marvels of the Universe 



Photo liy'] 



\_Hugh Main. 



TRAVELLER'S JOY. 



Eaci* one of the little feathers that form the chief beauty of 

 this iratniliar plant is destined to wing a ripe seed to distant 

 soil. 



Pholo i)!/] [f. Noacl Clark. 



THE PARACHUTE OF THE GOAT'S-BEARD. 



The parachute of the Dandelion-seed is only the simple 

 skeleton of such a one as this, for it has none of this delicate 

 inter-tracery between its central threads 



synimetiy of the whole, the delicacy of the 

 silk}' plume upon each seed, and its perfect 

 adaptation for aerial transport. Nearly all 

 plants of the Composite family produce similar 

 parachutes ; there is hardly anj' limit to the 

 distance thistledown may be carried on a 

 favouring breeze, and every gardener knows 

 to his cost how vain is the attempt to exclude 

 groundsel from his borders. In some of the 

 Ranunculus family, such as the Traveller's 

 Joy and certain species of anemone or wind- 

 flower, aviation is contrived by the develop- 

 ment of a long silky and feathered filament 

 from the top of each seed. The common reed, 

 which grows almost all over the world, and the 

 pampas grass of our gardens owe the beaut}' 

 of their plumes to the silky hairs provided for 

 the wafting of the ripe seeds. These are still 

 more conspicuous, owing to their snowy white- 

 ness and length, in the cottonsedge of our 

 moorlands. Many a time the deer-stalker has 

 recourse to these in approaching his game, 

 flinging a tuft of the down of cottonsedge in 

 the air to ascertain the e.xact direction of a 

 light wind. The cotton-plant is commercially 

 more important than any other plant in the 

 world, which is owing entirely to the length, 

 tenacit}' and uniformity of the silky white 

 hairs that cover the seed and are intended to 

 facilitate its transport by wind. The art of the 

 cultivator has been exerted to exaggerate this 

 feature as much as possible, and the amount of 

 this feather-weight material annually put upon 

 the market can only be reckoned in millions 

 of tons. Our native willows, though of a far 

 different natural order from the cotton-plant, 

 imitate it in a modest manner. The seeds 

 lie in a tangle of fine white hairs, which bear 

 them away on the breeze when the ripe capsules 

 open. The willow-herbs, of which some species 

 have beautiful rose-coloured flowers, are so 

 named in English from a superficial resem- 

 blance in their seeds and leaves to those of 

 willows ; but in the willow-herbs each seed 

 carries its own crown of hairs, A very similar 

 arrangement is found in the milk-weeds, which 

 are natives of the United States, 



The mention of the willow-herb brings us to 

 water as a vehicle for seed-dispersal ; for if the 



