|
immersion. For
sake I chiefly tried small seeds, without the capsule or fruit; and as all of these sank in a few days, they could not
floated across wide spaces of the sea, whether or not they were injured by the salt-water. Afterwards I tried some larger fruits, capsules,
and some of these floated for a long time. It is well known what a difference there is in the buoyancy of green and seasoned timber; and it occurred to me that floods
→would often wash into the sea dried
plants or
→with seed-capsules or fruit attached to them. Hence I was led to dry
and branches of 94 plants with ripe fruit, and to place them on
The majority sank quickly, but
whilst
floated for a very short time, when dried floated much longer; for instance, ripe hazel-nuts sank immediately, but when
they floated for 90
and afterwards when planted
germinated; an
with ripe berries floated for 23 days, when dried it floated for 85 days, and the seeds afterwards
the ripe seeds of Helosciadium sank in two days, when dried they floated for above 90 days, and afterwards germinated.
out of the 94 dried plants, 18 floated for above 28
and some of the 18 floated for a very much longer period. So that as
→kinds of seeds
germinated after an immersion of 28 days; and as
with ripe fruit (but not all the same species as in the foregoing experiment) floated, after being dried, for above 28 days,
→OMIT
we may
→conclude, as far as anything can be inferred
from these scanty facts,
→OMIT
that the seeds of 14/100
of
→plants of any
country might be floated by sea-currents during 28 days, and would retain their power of germination. In
Physical Atlas, the average rate of the several Atlantic currents
33 miles per diem (some currents running at the rate of 60 miles per diem); on this average, the seeds of 14/100 plants belonging to one country might be floated across 924 miles of sea to another
and when stranded, if blown
→OMIT
by an inland
→to a favourable spot,
would germinate. |
| Subsequently to my experiments, M. Martens tried similar ones, but in a much better manner, for
placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating plants. He tried 98 seeds, mostly different from mine; but he chose many large fruits and likewise seeds from plants which live near the sea; and this would have favoured
average length of their flotation and
their resistance to the injurious action of the salt-water. On the other
he did not previously dry the plants or branches with the fruit; and this, as we have seen, would have caused some of them to have floated
|
