How are plant seeds dispersed?

In nature, besides artificial seed dispersal, there are also some special methods of seed dispersal. Below, the editor will introduce to you what can disperse seeds.

The main methods of seed dispersal are animal dispersal, wind dispersal, water dispersal, and self-ejection dispersal.

1. Animal dispersal

Cherries, wild grapes, wild ginseng: they rely on small birds or other animals to eat the seeds, and since the seeds cannot be digested, they are excreted with the droppings and dispersed in all directions; pine nuts are carried away by squirrels when they store food for the winter.

2. Water dispersal

Coconut: it relies on water for dispersal. After the coconut matures, the coconut fruit falls into the sea and drifts far away with the seawater.

Water lily: after the fruit of the water lily matures, it sinks to the bottom of the water. After the fruit skin rots, the seeds wrapped in a spongy outer seed coat float up and drift to other places.

3. Wind dispersal

Some seeds grow appendages shaped like wings or feathers and ride the wind. Seeds with feathery appendages are mostly herbaceous plants, such as youngia japonica in the Asteraceae family, while woody plants include willow and kapok. In addition, some tiny seeds have a relatively large surface area to weight ratio, so the seeds can drift with the wind, such as orchid seeds. The achenes of the dandelion, an Asteraceae plant, spread their pappus when mature, like a parachute, floating with the wind and scattering the seeds far away.

4. Self-ejection dispersal

The fruit of the garden balsam bursts open and flings the seeds in all directions; this is a mechanical method of seed dispersal.

Wood sorrel: it is a very common wild weed, with small yellow flowers. After flowering, it produces five-angled capsule fruits. When the fruit matures,

it splits along the back of the fruit chambers, and the fruit shell curls up to eject the seeds, throwing them far away.

Squirting cucumber: it belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. When the squirting cucumber matures, at the slightest touch, this “cucumber” will fall off, and from the top it will shoot out the seeds inside the “cucumber” together with sticky juice, with a range of up to more than 5 meters, which is why the squirting cucumber gets its name.

Bauhinia: it relies on elastic force to disperse seeds. When the mature fruit of the Bauhinia is lightly touched, the fruit splits open, and by means of the elastic force of the curling back fruit skin, the seeds are ejected to a farther place. Many leguminous plants also use mechanical dispersal of seeds.