Tiny black poppy seeds (palaver species) stay in their pepper – pot shells until the stems bend enough in the wind to allow the seeds to escape through small holes around the rim. This can take them 24 to 36 in (60 to 100 cm) away from the mother plant. Dry seed pods of the witch’s broom (Cotises scenarios) suddenly twist open and jerk their seed a little further away. Meadow crane’s bill (Geranium pretense) develops a hair trigger and when touched by wind or animal it catapults the seed to a new location. Others have hooks or spines that catch on passing animals. Once you have brushed by a ripened plant of the medicinal hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum officinal) or viper’s bugloss (Cerium vulgar), the seed burrs will remain in your memory and elsewhere! Aiming to travel further afield, the seed of thistles and dandelions have exquisite further afield, the seed of thistles and dandelions have exquisite parachutes attached and the papery wings of maple seed are famous as the helicopter archetype. Some seeds take a packaged flight; seeds in fleshy berries are eaten by birds and a few survive intact to be deposited complete with fertilizer.
1 comments: