| → of different kinds floated 1872 |
| floated 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → which, as 1872 |
| could hardly be transported by any other means; and 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → OMIT 1872 |
| that such plants 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → ranges, could hardly be transported by any other means. 1872 |
| ranges. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → the roots of 1872 |
| wood in 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → many kinds of seeds 1872 |
| seeds of many kinds 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → as I know by trial, injure in the least 1869 1872 |
| in the least injure, as I know by trial, 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
|
much longer. The result was that
of his seeds
→of different kinds floated
for 42 days, and were then capable of germination. But I do not doubt that plants exposed to the waves would float for a less time than those protected from violent movement as in our experiments. Therefore it would perhaps be safer to assume that the seeds of about 10/100 plants of a flora, after having been dried, could be floated across a space of sea 900 miles in width, and would then germinate. The fact of the larger fruits often floating longer than the small, is
as plants with large seeds or fruit
→which, as
Alph. de Candolle has
→OMIT
generally have restricted
→ranges, could hardly be transported by any other means.
|
|
|
may be occasionally transported in another manner. Drift timber is thrown up on most islands, even on those in the midst of the widest oceans; and the natives of the coral-islands in the
procure stones for their tools, solely from the roots of drifted trees, these stones being a valuable royal tax. I find
that when irregularly shaped stones are embedded in the roots of trees, small parcels of earth are
frequently enclosed in their interstices and behind them,— so perfectly that not a particle could be washed away
the longest transport: out of one small portion of earth thus
enclosed by
→the roots of
an oak about 50 years old, three
plants germinated: I am certain of the accuracy of this observation. Again, I can show that the
of birds, when floating on the sea, sometimes escape being immediately
and
→many kinds of seeds
in the crops of floating birds long retain their vitality: peas and vetches, for instance, are killed by even a few
immersion in sea-water; but some taken out of the crop of a pigeon, which had floated on artificial
for 30 days, to my surprise nearly all germinated. |
|
| Living birds can hardly fail to be highly effective agents in the transportation of seeds. I could give many facts showing how frequently birds of many kinds are blown by gales to vast distances across the ocean. We may
safely assume that under such circumstances their rate of flight would often be 35 miles an hour; and some authors have given a far higher estimate. I have never seen an instance of nutritious seeds passing through the intestines of a bird; but hard seeds of fruit
pass uninjured through even the digestive organs of a turkey. In the course of two months, I picked up in my garden 12 kinds of seeds, out of the excrement of small birds, and these seemed perfect, and some of them, which
tried, germinated. But the following fact is more important: the crops of birds do not secrete gastric juice, and do
→as I know by trial, injure in the least
the germination of seeds;
after a bird
|
