The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-08-29
sgnie Curious Seeds.
BY FLORENCE GRiis%FoLt..

E0r1ie Cnrl0uH SeeaSa
; BY FLORENCE GRisSoIt::
I suppose every boy who has CONE
into the house from some outdoor e1
cursion with his clothes covered will
"stick tights" or "beggar ticks" has won
deted Why such things rere ever made
and if they had any Use in the world
Then, perhaps, he has wondered why th'
greatest variety of flowers is found by th!
sides Of the rai1r5ad tfack; and how
flowers which he thought gsew only il
one locality near his home are found the
next year in ever SO many widely separa
ted places. Perhaps he will be interested
to know the reasth5 Of sothe, Of these
and other curious facts about flowers.
/ If ne are to have abundant vegeta'
tion, and not land barren, CRASHES
and aowerless, every plant must pro-
duce and ripen seed, aud provide some
means for scattering it. So ne find
many curious contrivances, not only
for scattering the seed after it is mature,
but for fertilising the plaht aid perfect.
ing the seed.
The ''sticE.tightsS which are SO troll.
blesome to us are tsally very interesting
example Of the way Nature devised fol-
disseminating plants. Each little brown
pod is seed, furnished with two horns;
and on the horus are briatles pointing
backward, 80 that, while it is easily at,
tached to cloth or fur or anything that
brushes against it, it is difficult to detach'
Thus the seeds of the plant are carried
far and wide, and you meet with beggar.
lticks in the most unexpected places.
There is plant in South Africa. called
|the Martinea, which has hooks three or
l5four inches long. These attach them
selves to lions by fastening in their flesh;
and thus have the honor of being plant
ed by the king OF beasts, when he rolls
himself on the ground to get rid of them.
Sometimes sheep are killed by pointed
seeds working into their flesh. Many
plants, especially water plants, have
gummy seeds, stalks, or leaves, which
stick to birds and other animals. Most
fruits have indigestible seeds. to which
animals are attracted by the color, fra
GRANGE and favor of the fruit. The in
digestible seed is Of course cast away.
Pigeons and monkeys scatter a great
many seeds in this way. Some seeds
attract birds by their resemblance to
jointed caterpillars, with woolly hairs.
The seed of the castor bean looks like a
small black beetle, and breaks away from
the pod with it's attachment, Or pldcenta,
which looks lile head.
But some seeds could be digested if
eaten by animals, and these are usually
protected either by being the color Of the
soil, and even sometimes sculptured to
resemble grains of sand, or by being
buried.
a plant called Aristida has a curious
seed, With three tightly twisted awns.
When wet, these awns untwist and cause
the seed to roll about, sending the point
into the ground, where it is held by the
backward.turned bristles. Then the
awns break away, and the seed is ready
to grow.
In feathergrass, the avn is plumed,
30 that the wind move, it about. In the
peanut, after the seed begins to mature,
the stalk turns to the ground and buries
the whole plant.
In the rose of Jericho and the tumble
plants ofthe prairies, the whole plant is
rolled into q ball and blown about by the
! wind. Many plants have winged or
plumed seeds, like Eastwood or milkweed.
You have all amused yourselves bysnap.
ping the seeds Of the jewel weed, or
balsam, to hear the slight explosion.
That explosiveness is found in many
plants, as in the violet, and helps to
spread the plant.
said there we're curious contrivances,
not only for scattering seed, but for
! causing the seed to be formed, which is
| called fertilization. You know there are
two kinds of organs in a flower which
have to do with producing seed: first, the
pistil, the essentials of which are an
oyary, or pod, in which the seeds are to
be formed, and a stigma, or surface fol-
| receiving pollen. The stem which bears
| the stigma is called the style. The second
part Of the flower which helps produce
seed is the stamen, consisting of thread.
like stem, or flament, and the anther,
covered with yellow grains of pollen,
Now. in order that seed may be formed
iu the ovary, pollen from the anther
must be brought to the stigma. 1t is
wrong for. stamen to let its pollen fall
on the stigma of the same flower, if il
can in any way send it to some other
blossom. The reason ofthis is that the
new plant is feeble if produced by the
stamens and pistil ofa single blossom
Sometimes the pollen even poisons the
stigma of its own flower.
If the pollen must be carried to some
other flower, who will carry it? There
are three principal agencies of this cross
pollination ~ wind, ~ water, and e,
animals. Pollen from pines, which has
two balloon-like sacs, is often carried
three hundred miles, and has been taker
six hundred, by the wind. The animals
that carry pollen are suails, insects,-a'
flies, gnats, bees, butterflies, moths,-aat
birds, of which the humming-bird il
best known. To attract flies and gnats
plants are of purp!ish or livid color, witt
very unpleasant odors, as the uristolochia