Which plants rely on birds to disperse their seeds?

Because of their particularity, not all plants can disperse their own seeds; many plants rely on other animals and natural conditions for dispersal, so what plants use birds to disperse seeds?

1. What plants use birds to disperse seeds?

There are many plants that use birds to disperse seeds, such as grapes, persimmons and cherries. After birds eat the fruit of these foods, the undigested seeds are excreted with their droppings, so the seeds can continue to grow, and the dispersal distance of the seeds is also relatively wide.

Most seeds dispersed by birds come from fleshy fruits, because only in this way will birds eat them.

2. What methods of seed dispersal are there?

1. Self-dispersal

Self-dispersal is dispersal carried out by the plant itself. Because the fruit or seed itself has weight, after ripening the fruit or seed will fall directly to the ground due to gravity, or when the fruit ripens and splits open it produces an ejecting force that shoots the seeds out, thereby achieving the effect of dispersal.

2. Water dispersal

Aquatic plants such as water lilies and lotus generally disperse their seeds by water. The fruit skins of these plants contain air chambers and have a lower specific gravity than water, so they can float on the water surface and be dispersed by streams or ocean currents.

3. Wind dispersal

Some seeds grow appendages shaped like catkins or feathers, for example Youngia japonica in the Asteraceae, while woody plants include willow and kapok. In addition, some tiny seeds have a relatively large ratio of surface area to weight, so the seeds can drift with the wind.

4. Ant dispersal

Some birds eat and disperse seeds, but do not consume all the nutrients; the seeds that fall on the ground still have some remaining nutrients on their surface for ants to eat, and at this time the ants become secondary dispersers.