FRUIT AND SEED DISPERSAL MECHANISMS OF PLANTS.

Very few of us, either as gardeners,or nature lovers fail to be impressed by the explosion of summer blooms that lift the spirits and bring contentment. Gardens and the countryside in general would be much poorer places without their presence. They attract the bees and butterflies and a plethora of other insects that share the plants with us. It would be nice to think that plants produce these beautiful flowers just for our enjoyment.

The plant has one and only one reason for producing flowers and that is to produce seeds so that the continuation of the species is assured. Nature has thought up many ways for the plants to produce them. Some are in the form of fruits,others nuts, some in capsules while others are contained in pods, just to mention a few. The purpose of these outer layers is to protect the seeds while they are ripening.  In this hub I will try to give the various types of seed production and how they are dispersed. With the aid of photographs we will see how varied these dispersal mechanisms are.

A number of plants have adopted the parachute method. The seeds are attached to plumes which are carried by the wind to their new dwelling places. Members of the daisy family for example the dandelion,goat'sbeard, colt's foot, sow thistle, groundsel and hawk weeds all employ this method. Willow herbs are another noted species that have adopted this method.

Many of the Apiaceae family which includes garden favourites such as parsley and fennel, produce seeds that are flattened but have "wings" on the seed capsule so that the wind carries them away from their floral mothers.

Plants that produce seed in pods are members of the pea and bean family Fabaceae. This family includes the clovers, vetches, Lupin,Dyer's greenwood, bird's foot trefoil, gorse, broom and the laburnum tree. Examples are photographed below.

Crane's-bills have beaked fruits which resemble the head and beak of a Crane a stork like bird. It is from the shape of these distinctive  fruits that the family gets its common name. The fruits are referred to as mericarps by botanists.

Other plants have adopted bristles or burs that adorn the seed capsule that catch hold of clothing and animal fur. In this way they are carried considerable distances before they fall or are brushed off. Examples of these plants are Cleavers {goosegrass}, Burdock and Wood Aven {Herb Bennet},. In the case of burdock the fruit is an acne with a pappus {hairs.} which cling to almost any thing that passes. Locally the children call these sticky bobs. The fruit of cleavers are paired globular, with bristly, hooked hairs that cling. Hence the plants common name cleave being an old English name for cling.

Trees produce a wide variety of seed protection, some develop inside spiny cases such as the horse and sweet chestnuts. The fruit of the oak sits upon the twigs in cups until they are ripe enough to fall or are distributed by birds and mammals. Many trees produce berries such as elder, and rowan. while others rely on nuts Hazel and Beech as a means of protecting their seeds.

Many trees such as the elder and ivy rely on their fruit being consumed by birds thus the seed, which comes to no harm during the transit through the birds gut, is dispersed in the droppings. trees that produce nuts Hazel and Oak for example also rely on birds such as the jay and squirrels hording the fruits. Many of the nuts are buried for winter consumption by both species of animals. Many of these will be uneaten and therefore germinate.

Plants such as poppies rely on the capsules splitting and the wind shaking them out. native plants that rely on this method are the campions.

Species such as the dead nettles,hedge woundwort and water mint form nutlets . These are small usually black seeds that form in a spiky capsule. they are shaped in the manner of a miniature nut. So has demonstrated the flowers that provide us with such enjoyment when their petals unfold have found a diverse number of ways of protecting their seeds and for distributing them. Although the flowers are not for our benefit we can enjoy them fully, while they are in the process of forming their fruits.

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