SEEDS WITH WINGS

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2094, 31 May 1907, Page 4

SEEDS WITH WINGS

The different arrangements of winged seeds is one of the most interesting Studies in botany, and the inventor could do much worse than to take lessons in this field of devices. It is a well-known principle of mechanics that a whirling motion is a great aid in supporting objects of oertain shapes as they pass through the air. This is the principle utilised by nearly all winged seeds. There are a number of well-defined types, though with almost infinite variations. Some wings are attached to whole seed-clusters. Of this type the linden is a good example. From the centre of a large wing the cluster of seeds hangs by a single sibem. As the wing dries it becomes slightly turned up at the larger end, and also so twisted that the wind gives it rotary motion. It is the upturned end that is specially effective in carrying power, since in turning it constantly strikes the air at a higher plane than the rest of the wing, and tends to bear, tjie whole up; yet the weight of the seed cluster is so great in proportion to the size of the wing that itlie seeds are not carried to any great distance. A common typo is that in which the wing is simply an extension of the seed pod. The silver maples, box elders, and ashes are familiar examples. These winged seeds hang in open clusters, each one attached by a small, short stem. In a strong wind on dry days, their brittle stems break and the seeds are whirled away one by one. The device ,is so balanced that as it sails through the air the wing whirls rapidly round the seed as an axis, and Hie .wing is so shaped and balanced that its front edge strikes the air higher than the rest of the wing, thus producing air pressure in an upward direction. The writer has seen these seeds, when dislodged from" the top of a tall tree in a fair wind, go more than thirty paces. The seeds of ashes and box elders cling to the trees in winter and are often driven to considerable distances in fierce gales Certain trees also have winged seeds which are enclosed, as tlio pine in cones, and the catalpa, in long seed pods. If one brings a closed pine cone into the house in winter the heat and dryness soon cause the cone scales, with a sharp snapping sound, to burst apart, revealing tho winged seeds lying between them. Place the cone in water and the scales close again. On dry, windy days one may hear the poppipg of the pine cones and see the delicately winged seeds sail out upon the air. On wet days—days unsuited for successful seed flight—the cones close,

at that time in his mind his fourth soil, Prince August Wilholm, but as the latter lias since become engaged to bo murriod, tho Kuisor apparently doeidod that Prince Oscar,, who is ninotoon next July, should bo tho one to rocoivo tho advantage of a thoroughly democratic universal training.

It is probable that 1 the Prince, accompanied by a military adjutant, will go to America in timo for tlie opening of tho noxt collogo yoar in Septombor. Ho is now an undergraduate at tho University of Bonn. Two facts determined tlie Emperor in choosing Harvard—first, it is the Alma Mater of President Roosevelt and tlio American Ambassador in Berlin, Mr. Charlomange Tower, who is oxtromoly poimlar at the Gorman Court; and, secondly, it is tho American university which specialises in German subjects. At Harvard is also tho well-known German professor, Hugo Muenstorborg, who is accredited to Amorica as a sort of unofficial Ambassador. Harvard is, further, the seat of that small American cult which opposes the Monroe doctrino.

Tho ICaiser is said to bo anxious that ono of his boys should grow up with one of Mr. Roosevelt’s sons. If Prince Oscar enters Harvard in September, he will have the President’s eldest son, Theodore, as a college mate, while Mr. Roosevelt’s second son,- Kermit, may enter tho university at tlie same time. It is announced thaW professor Burgess, of Columbia University, late “Roosevelt Professor” at tho University of Berlin, will, during tho coming summer, give a special series 6i lectures at Bonn on American constitutional history for the benefit of Prince August Wilhelm, the Kaiser’s fourth son.