HOW PLANTS SCATTER THEIR SEED 177 
and try the pods, or look for the wild Impatiens along 
streams and in damp, shady places. 
The gorse or furze. This familiar bush is known 
by its spiny leaves and 
sweet-smelling butterfly- 
shaped flowers, which 
blossom pretty well all 
the year round. The 
golden flowers are suc- 
ceeded by pea-like pods 
which explode by the 
twisting of their valves 
in the dry air. One can 
hear the snapping of the 
pods as they burst and 
the seeds are scattered. 
Pods which burst and 
scatter their seeds are called explosive fruits. Other 
examples are to be found in the vetch, broom, violet, 
oxalis, ete. 
The willow-herbs. These are familiar waterside 
plants with pink flowers and narrow leaves and 
long thin capsules. The largest of the willow-herbs 
is sometimes called “codlins and cream.’ It must 
be familiar to all who ramble about by streams and 
ponds. When the capsules are ripe the valves turn 
backwards, and as they bend, the seeds, which are 

Fie. 218. Branch of gorse with ripe pods. 



