What Are the Common Ways Plants Spread Their Seeds?

Reproducing offspring is not only one of the life activities of animals; plants are the same. Plants have many ways to spread their own seeds, and many plants can spread their seeds across the world without spending time and effort themselves.

1. Wind dispersal

There are many plants that spread their seeds by wind, such as dandelion, willow, poplar, pine and so on. After these plants mature, their seeds are blown by the wind to other places, and if the environment is suitable, they will germinate and grow.

2. Sun dispersal

Plants that spread their seeds by the sun include garden balsam, pea, wood sorrel, chestnut, squirting cucumber, soybean, hemp, plants of the Brassicaceae family and so on. The fruit of garden balsam dries out in the sun and splits open, then flings the seeds in all directions. The pods of peas burst open under the sun's strong exposure, and the beans inside the pods jump away. When the fruit of the squirting cucumber is ripe, it squirts out its seeds when exposed to the sun.

3. Sleep dispersal

Plants that spread their seeds by water include coconut, water lily and so on. The fruit of the coconut palm falls from the tree after it matures and drifts far away with the seawater. When the tide washes it onto an island, a new coconut palm will grow on the shore. The fruit of the water lily falls into the water after it matures and slowly rots, and the seeds wrapped in a spongy outer seed coat float up and drift to other places, finally sinking to the bottom of the water to take root and sprout.

4. Animal dispersal

Many plants make their fruit delicious and nutritious to attract animals to eat it, but the seeds in the fruit are difficult to digest, so they are spread in all directions along with the animals; some plants also make their seeds attach to animals, such as cocklebur.