Seeds are scattered in various ways. They do not all stay near the place where they drop.
Seeds scattered by man, by water, by wind, etc.
There are many kinds of seeds that man scatters in raising his crops from year to year.
Some seeds are carried away by water. Sometimes they sail a very great distance in this way, and, like people, settle down far away from the spot where they grew.
Seeds are sometimes carried about in the hair of animals, and are dropped here and there. The sheep gets seeds into its wool, and then shakes them out as it goes about the pasture, or rubs them off against the trees and the fences. The little burrs with which you make baskets, by sticking them together, are seed-holders. They often stick to your clothes. When you pick them off and throw them away, you help to scatter seeds just as the sheep does.
The wind is the great scatterer of seeds. It blows them about if they are at all light. It sometimes takes them far away from where they grew. Some seeds are made in such a way that the wind can blow them about very easily. Look at the seed of the maple-tree. There is a sort of wing on it, as if it were made to fly. So when it falls, it goes whirling away in the air. It does not drop just by the tree if the air is stirring.
Seeds of the maple, the dandelion, and the salsify.
Here is a representation of two seeds of the maple, with their wings. They always grow in this way, in pairs.
Look at the little feathery ball on the stalk of the dandelion after the flower is gone. The seeds are in the middle of that ball. Pick it, and then hold it up, and blow upon it as hard as you can. Away will fly all the seeds. If the wind is blowing it will scatter them every where. Now look at them to see what makes them fly so. You see that each seed has a very little stem. This stem has on its end some very fine fibres standing out all around. The wind blows the seed about by these fibres. If the seed did not have this sort of balloon to fly with, it would fall straight to the ground. But with this it may go a great distance. Sometimes it travels over mountains and across rivers. Here is a drawing of the dandelion-seed. But to see how delicate it is, and how well fitted it is to fly, you must look at a real seed.
And here is the stem of the dandelion as it looks after the seeds are scattered. You see that it has a cushion-shaped end. It is on this that the seeds are fastened. It is curious to see how regularly they are arranged so as to make that beautiful feathery ball.
The seed of the salsify represented here, is very much like that of the dandelion.But the fibres by which it is carried about by the wind are, you see, very delicately feathered.
Seeds of the clematis.
Thistle-down.
Mosses and ferns.
The seed of the clematis or virgin’s-bower is, as you see, rather differently arranged. It has a very long stem, with little fibres standing out from it all the way, something like a feather.
The down of thistles and some other flowers is the wing of the seeds by which they are scattered by the wind. Here is a representation of a seed with its wing of down. This little seed has a very large wing to fly with.
The seeds of mosses and ferns are scattered more widely than any others because they are so small. You know the mosses well. You see them every where on fences, rocks, and trunks of trees, as well as on the ground. The wind carries their fine seeds about, and they lodge on every thing. They go even to the tops of the mountains, and down into caverns in the earth. There is great variety in the mosses, and some of them are exceedingly beautiful, especially when examined with a microscope.
Questions.—In what different ways are seeds scattered about? What is the great scatterer of seeds? What is said of the seeds of the maple? What of the seeds of the dandelion? What of the seeds of the salsify—the clematis—the thistle? What of the seeds of mosses and ferns?
Questions.—In what different ways are seeds scattered about? What is the great scatterer of seeds? What is said of the seeds of the maple? What of the seeds of the dandelion? What of the seeds of the salsify—the clematis—the thistle? What of the seeds of mosses and ferns?