26 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



truh^ most enchanting flowers. Belonging to the gera- 

 nium family, they have persistent sepals and an elongated 

 receptacle bearing the five pistils v^^hich grows to about 

 two inches in length. 



Up to this time our little filaree has been just uncom- 

 monly active and bright and pretty but now it begins to 

 take on deeply cunning ways. It has been pollinated by 

 insects in the usual method, having held plentiful honey 

 inducement, or it could very easily have pollinated itself ; 

 but it wants also to make sure its seeds are duly distri- 

 buted and planted. So the most elaborate and effectual 

 devices to this end have been contrived, outdoing any 

 plant I can now recall. The elongated receptacle having 

 grown mature and brown, it explodes some day when the 

 sun has warmed it well, and the five pistils spring away 

 like bits of bent whalebone. As they fly off, they may be 

 caught by the wind and carried any distance, because of 

 the long, silky hairs on the styles. The ovary that con- 

 tains the seed is tipped with a hook and is covered with 

 bristles that slope upward and outward ; by this device 

 it easil}^ slips into your clothing or the wool of passing 

 sheep, and no more slips out than w^ould a fish-hook. 



Besides the hook has a spiral shape and a twisting 

 movement ; when it is wet it straightens out, when dry it 

 again twists up. Early in the spring it is matured and 

 has fallen into the dust; after that every dew and fog 

 causes it to straighten itself and every recurring blaze of 

 sunshine makes it again twist into a spiral, the sharp 

 barbed point pushing into the soil. So that all summer 

 long, though we may think the filaree has long since done 

 its work and retired from active duty, down under the 

 dust these canny seeds are bur^dng themselves with an 

 ever elert perception of wet and dry conditions. By the 

 time the first rains of winter have come, which may be as 

 earl^^ as October, they are firmly planted and ready to 

 jump to their work above ground. 



Orange, Cahfornia. 



