Seed

PLANT REPRODUCTIVE PART

WRITTEN BY:

● Hans Lambers

LAST UPDATED: May 24, 2018 S

​ ee Article History

Seeds
Seeds are the mature ovules. They contain the developing
embryo ​and the nutritive ​tissue ​for the seedling. Seeds are
surrounded by one or two ​integuments​, which develop
into a ​seed coat ​that is usually hard. They are enclosed in
the ​ovary ​of a ​carpel ​and thus are protected from the
elements and predators.
The ​ovule ​is attached to the ovary wall until maturity by a
short stalk called the ​funiculus​. The area of attachment to
the ovary wall is referred to as the ​placenta​. The
arrangement of placentae (​placentation​) in the compound
ovary of angiosperms is characterized by the presence or
absence of a central column in the ovary and by the site of
attachment (​Figure 14​). In ​axile placentation ​the placentae
are located on a central column; partitions from the central
column to the ovary wall create chambers (locules) that
separate the placentae and attached ovaries from each
other. ​Free- central placentation ​resembles axile
placentation; however, the column is not connected by
partitions to the ovary wall, and thus no locules are formed.
In ​basal placentation ​ovules are attached to the base of the
ovary, and in ​parietal placentation ​the placentae are
located directly on the ovary wall or on its extensions.
!
Mature seeds are enclosed in integuments that may
become hard and stony or that may have an outer fleshy,
usually brightly coloured sarcotesta with an inner stony
sclerotesta. Seed coats also may be winged or variously
ornamented with prickles or sclerified hairs. In some seeds,
there may
Figure 14: Evolutionary relationships among some types of placentation.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
be an extra covering, the ​aril​, which is an outgrowth of the
funiculus (e.g., the spice ​mace ​is derived from the red aril of
Myristica fragrans; ​Myristicaceae). The aril of ​tomato ​seeds
makes them slippery.
Mechanisms of dispersal
Fruits and seeds are the primary means by which
angiosperms are ​dispersed​. The chief agents of dispersal
are wind, ​water​, and animals. Some fruits and seeds have
modifications that aid in wind dispersal. Fruit
modifications include samaras, samaroid schizocarps, and
the feathery calyx lobes (e.g., dandelion). Seeds may be
modified in various ways to promote dispersal: they may be
extremely small and light (e.g., orchids, Orchidaceae),
winged (e.g., common ​catalpa​, ​Catalpa bignonioides;
Bignoniaceae), plumed (e.g., milkweed), covered with
woolly hairs (e.g., willows), or surrounded by explosive
capsules that forcefully eject them into the air, as, for
example, the ​touch- me-not ​(​Impatiens​; ​Balsaminaceae)
and the ​witch hazel ​(​Hamamelis; H
​ amamelidaceae). The
fruits or seeds of many aquatic and shore plants are
adapted to float on water as a means of dispersal; for this
reason, coconuts (​Cocos nucifera​; ​Arecaceae) are readily
transported across oceans to neighbouring islands.
Adaptations for water dispersal include ​aerenchyma ​in
fruits or seeds and light weight (e.g., water chestnut, ​Trapa
natans; ​Lythraceae).
seed dispersal
Seeds and their dispersal mechanisms.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Animals ​disperse fruits and seeds either by ingesting and
subsequently excreting them or by passively transporting
them once they have adhered to an external part of the
body, such as the fur or a claw. The ​evolution ​of fleshy fruits
and seeds exemplifies the coevolution of plants and their
!
animal ​agents of dispersal. An animal diet often consists
solely of fruits and seeds that are designed to be eaten and
dispersed, and in many cases these seeds require full or
partial digestion to stimulate ​germination​. Most fruits with
a fleshy pericarp are eaten whole by vertebrates, including
the stony endocarp or the stony seed coat. The seeds then
either are regurgitated by the animal or pass through the
alimentary canal ​and are excreted, often some distance
from the original site. Seeds with an aril that encloses a
stony seed coat or seeds with a sclerotesta and a fleshy,
coloured sarcotesta are found in dehiscent fruits. They are
eaten by animals after the ​fruit​has ripened and split open.
Often these seeds dangle from the fruit by long stalks (e.g.,
the follicles of ​Magnolia​). The fleshy portion, whether
originally a fruit or seed, is brightly coloured and sweet so
as to attract vertebrates, particularly birds and mammals.
Many fruits and seeds in the Amazon, however, are actually
eaten and dispersed by fish during times of high water.