6 
SEED DISPERSAL. 
common or black locust extend from twenty to forty feet 
in each direction, and almost anywhere along these roots 
buds may appear, and a shoot spring up and become a tree. 
This peculiarity is worth as much to locusts in the 
matter of spreading as though the parent trees were able to 
move about. A number of kinds of poplars and willows, 
ailanthus, some of the elms, ashes, sweet 
potatoes, milkweeds, Canada thistles, and 
others behave in a similar manner. 
Little bits of Canada-thistle root half an 
inch long may send forth buds, and each 
bud grow to be an independent plant. 
Roots have 
a peculiarity 
not usually 
known. They 
stretch out and 
crook about 
here and there, 
penetrating 
the crevices of 
the soil wher- 
ever there is the least chance, and the matured portions 
begin to shorten, reminding one somewhat of an angle? 
worm when one end has been stepped on. By this 
shortening process the top or crown of a dandelion or 
plantain is pulled down beneath the surface of the 
ground. 
Fig. 1. — Buds and shoots sprouting from roots of the 
common locust. 
