74 
SEED DISPERSAL. 
direction. Like many other plants we have seen, this 
has more than one way of scattering seeds, and often 
more than two ways. Observe the slender, stiff beak, 
terminating in two recurved points. Let a person or 
some animal pass into a patch of these plants, and at once 
numerous fruits catch on wherever there is a chance, and 
some are shot upon or into the fleeces of animals, there to 
find free transportation for uncertain distances. Should 
there be a freshet, some of these fruits will float ; or, in 
case of shallow currents after a rain, some of them are 
washed away from the parent plant. Any inquisitive 
person cannot fail to be pleased if he experiment with 
the plant when the fruit is ripe. 
47. Hooks rendered harmless till time of need. — There 
are a number of rather Aveedy-looking herbs, common to 
woods or low land, known as Avens, Geum. They are 
closely allied to cinquefoil, and all belong to the rose fam- 
ily. The slender stiles above the seed-like ovaries of some 
species of Avens are described as not jointed, but straight 
and feathery, well adapted, as we might suppose, to be 
scattered by the aid of wind ; while others are spoken of 
as having, when young, stiles jointed and bent near the 
middle. In ripening, the lower part of the stile becomes 
much longer and stouter. When a whole bunch of pistils 
has drawn all the nourishment possible, or all that is needed, 
from the plant mother, the upper part of each stile drops 
off, leaving a sharp, stiff hook at the end. At this time 
each pistil loosens from the torus and can be easily removed, 
