Of course the clematis akenes fly. 
Nothing so fluffy as they, in the seed world, could 
do otherwise. 
The wild clematis that grows over the bushes in some 
swamps is a beautiful vine with glossy leaves and clus- 
ters of pretty white flowers. After the snowy flowers 
have gone it is still beautiful, for then each little akene 
waves a long, shining, curly plume. The whole vine is 
covered with these shining, twining plumes. 
But a day comes when they no longer shine. Each 
curling plume looks like a mass of down, for its parts 
have separated and stand out, and we now see that it 
is shaped like a feather, a downy fluffy feather. The 
whole vine is a soft fluffy mass. 
This does not last long, for the akenes leave the parent 
vine and are borne aloft on their airy plumes by the 
wind that scatters them far and wide. 
Some fall upon the right kind of soil, where they are 
27 
