A contribution to our knowledge of seedlings / by the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock.

  • Lubbock John, Sir, 1834-1913.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A contribution to our knowledge of seedlings / by the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    ]^94 ON SEEllLlNQS their nesto, and I am inclined to suspect that they mistake them for the pupas of other ants. Some Yiolets throw their seeds. In the Dog Violet (V canina) the capsules, though pendent yhen young, at ZitZtj raise themselves' above the rest of the p ant, and ran hy three equal valves resembling an mverted tripod.' Each valve contams a row of three, four, or five brown, fmooth pear-shaped seeds, slightly flattened at the upper, Tder end. The two walls of each valve, as they become Iriet cTntract, and approach one another thus ending to snueeze out th^ seeds. These resist some time, but at length hrattachment of the seed to its base gives way, and it s elcted sevSal feet, this being no doubt much facilitated by its torn and smoothness. I have knov,n even a gathered specmien '''rtrothThliXin viola hirta the capsules hang down, and it has been said actually bury themselves m the groimd. ^ow we naturally ask ourselves ■ what is the reason for tin difference between the species of Violets; why do V. odorata and V hiria oonceal their capsules among the moss and leaves on L^round while V. canLa and others erect then-s and thiw the gro™a ™ jj arrangement be best for Viola the seeds to a distance ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^ canma,why hasnotV^ odo ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ I Z spec es ™ a^ina is a ptot with an elongated Z and it IS eTsy therefore for the capsule to raise itself above stem, and it is easy J froteata »d a ou the contrary, have in ordinary ^o stem and the leaves are radical, i.e. rising fi'om r r Th sTs'Ileast the case in appearance, for, botani- the root. This is a ^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ eally speaking, J^^^ gweet Violet attempted to under these —t^^^^^^^^^ ^1 .efficiently elevated, the shoot Its ^^tolgainst some neighbouring leaf, and
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