Scattering seeds

Juicy berries are eaten by harvest mice, which pass the seeds in their poo.

When shaken, lotus seeds fall from the dried seed pod and into the lake or pond in which the plant grows.

Spiky burdock seeds can grow up to 1 in (3 cm) across.

Between 90 and 110 feathery bristles radiate outward to form a parachute on every seed.

Plants are anchored by roots and can’t move from one place to another. If they dropped their seeds where they stood, the new plants would be in competition for nutrients and sunlight. So plants have developed many ways to make sure their seeds scatter far and wide to take advantage of new places in which to grow. They use exploding seed pods, animals, the wind, or even water to spread their seeds.

Single-winged seeds spin like helicopter rotors.

Coconut fruits are salt-proof and float on seawater.

Acorns are essential fall food for many animals, from squirrels and woodpeckers to deer, pigs, and bears.

Up to 200 seeds can be produced by a single flower.

Woody scales of the female catkin (flower spike) open up to release seeds. When the flower head dries out, it releases seeds with silvery parachutes.

Cuipo plants sprout as soon as their seeds land on the forest floor.

Cuipo seeds have five wings, which make them spin as they fall.

Wind and water carry seeds farthest. Dandelion and milk thistle seeds have parachutes that carry them on the breeze, while maple and cuipo seeds catch the wind as they fall from the tree canopy. Amazingly, coconut seeds can travel hundreds of miles on ocean currents. Animals are also important seed spreaders. When animals eat fruit, the undigested seeds inside the fruit pass through their droppings. Burdock seeds are covered in hooks that get caught in animal fur and transported. Squirrels bury hundreds of acorns each fall to eat in winter. The ones they forget about germinate into new oak trees.