Seed Dispersal

How Plants Spread

Before they can grow into new plants, seeds need to leave the seed pod. If all the seeds a plant
produced landed just underneath the parent plant, they would be too crowded, and the established
large plant might not leave them enough light or water for them all to develop properly. When you plant
seeds too thickly in a pot, you can see that they grow tall and leggy, and each plant is weak and spindly.
The various methods of seed dispersal are designed to ensure that as many seeds as possible have a
good chance of growing up to produce seeds of their own.

Sometimes, the pod or fruit containing the seeds is carried away from the parent plant; sometimes,
individual seeds are spread to a new location. The size and shape of the seedpod or the seeds influences
how they are dispersed. The main methods plants use to disperse their seeds to places with better
growing conditions than directly under the parent plant include gravity, animals, force, wind and water.
Often, a plant will spread its seeds by a combination of these methods. For instance, a fruit falling to the
ground by gravity might then be carried away by animals, or a seed blown by the wind might land in
water and be transported somewhere else before germinating.

On some plants native to Australia and South Africa, the seedpods may need the heat of the natural
bush fires occurring in these areas to open and release their seeds, which are then dispersed by other
means.

For more information and examples of different methods of seed dispersal, click the appropriate picture
below:

Dispersal of Seeds by Animals

Animals of all sorts and sizes help plants to disperse their seeds. The method they use depends on the
type of seed.
Seeds with attractive fruit or seeds

To attract the animals and birds and encourage them to act as seed carriers,

plants often surround their seeds with a brightly-coloured and sweet-tasting pulp.

Dispersal of Seeds by Gravity

Large, round, heavy fruits just drop straight off the tree onto the ground when they are ripe.

If they have a tough outer shell, they may roll some distance from the parent plant. The higher up the
tree they are, and the larger they are, the further they can roll.

If they have a soft skin, they may break open when they hit the ground and the individual seeds may be
scattered.

On lower-growing plants, many fruits and seeds are also heavy enough to fall to the ground without any
other help.

When they reach the ground, some seeds are taken further from the parent plant by animals or water.

Seeds dispersed by gravity include:

Dispersal of Seeds by Force

Some plants provide their fruits (seedpods) with a mechanism that ejects the seeds from the pod by
force.

here are several methods plants use to fling their seeds out of the seedpod. All of them rely on the
effect of evaporation of water in the seedpod, so this method of seed dispersal usually takes place in the
sun. It is one of the favourite methods used by members of the Papilionaceae (formerly Leguminosae). If
you walk over heathland near Gorse bushes on a hot sunny day, you can hear the explosions of the
seedpods as they burst open and send their seeds out. Lupins, too, have a similar system. The side of the
seedpod facing the sun dries out more quickly than the side in the shade, causing the pod to buckle and
pop open. The seedpods then curl up like animal horns, sending the seeds flying.

Geraniums also use the heat of the sun to shoot their seeds from the pods. The seeds are in a ring at the
base of the style, each one with its own cover which is attached to the tip of the style by a thin woody
strip. When the seeds are ripe, the seed covers split apart, and the strip rips up the style but is stopped
suddenly because the strip remains attached to the style. The seeds are catapulted out at high speed.

Oxalis seeds are covered by an elastic coating. When this dries out, it splits suddenly, shooting the
individual seeds out of the pod.

Euphorbia is another plant whose seedpods crack open with a loud explosion. When the three joints in
the seedpod dry out, they split open suddenly, and the seeds are shot out. Ceanothus berries also
operate this system when the fleshy outer covering has dried out.

Plants that disperse their seeds by this method include:

Dispersal of Seeds by Water

Some plants make use of water to disperse their seeds.

Brooklime

Yellow Water Lily

Mangrove

Although seeds of plants that grow in water are obviously spread by water, there are many other ways
in which water plays a part in dispersing seeds.
Plants which grow beside water often rely on water to transport their seeds for them. They may produce
light seeds which float, or there may be fluff that helps buoyancy. Two tall trees, Willow and Silver Birch,
are often found in the middle of moorland, far from any other trees, but along the course of a stream.
They can colonise such isolated places because they both have very small, light seeds, which can be
carried by the wind or by water. Foxgloves and Harebells often grow beside streams. They both have
light seed that floats.

Trees found on tropical beaches often have their seeds carried there by the sea. They have woody,
waterproof coverings which enable them to float in the salty water for long periods. Coconuts are well-
known travellers, as is the famous Coco-de-mer, found only on the Seychelles, but familiar before its
origin was known from the giant seeds washed up on other tropical beaches.

Mangroves are another familiar tree of tropical beaches. Their seeds are unusual in that they can begin
germination while still on the parent plant, and they drop into the ocean when about a foot long. These
'sticks' float upright in the sea, waiting to be flung onto the beach to continue germinating.

Seeds of some tropical trees can even be carried along by ocean currents to land on shores half a world
away. Sometimes Sea Beans, the seeds of Entada gigas, are carried from their homes beside rivers in
Africa, Australia or South America, across the ocean to land on European shores.

Dispersal of Seeds by the Wind

Wind is one of the main agencies of seed dispersal.

The way it transports them depends on the type of seed and where it grows.

Seeds that can fly or glide

Hornbeam

Sycamore

Ash

Some tall trees produce seeds with stiff wings covering the seed that enable them to fly long distances.
The wings are twisted and balanced so that the seed spins around as it is carried along by the wind.
These natural adaptations for using the wind to transport the weight of the seed must be technically
accurate, as the wings of modern planes and helicopters are designed in the same way.
These wings usually support one seed each, but may start off as a two-winged pod that later splits in
two to release the seeds. Some seeds have only one wing (e.g. Lime or Ash). This type of attachment is
quite heavy, and this system only works well in a good wind, and from a tall tree.

Sometimes seeds have thin wings as an extension of the seed that enable them to glide in the wind.
They don't need so much wind as the seeds that fly, but they are not so heavy. The largest of this type of
seed is 6" across, from a climber called Alsomitra growing in the tropical forests of Asia.

Some seeds have long, feathery tails which help them to fly, like the tail of a kite.

Examples of seeds spread by the use of wings and tails are:

Puya

Tecoma

Embothrium

Pandorea

Pulsatilla

Clematis

Seeds that drift in the wind

Seeds that have almost weightless additions that enable them to be carried long distances

by the slightest breeze are familiar all over the world.

Willow Herb

Bulrush

Dandelion

These are more flimsy additions to seeds which help them to be transported long distances by the wind.
These additional features are usually various sorts of fluff which are almost weightless but increase the
volume of the seed, so that it can be picked up by the slightest breeze and carried over long distances.
Sometimes, the seed is attached to fine hairs which open out when the seed is shed to form a ball.
Thistles produce seeds with this type of fluff, and thistledown is often seen blowing across motorways
on its journey to colonise new sites. Many members of the Daisy family provide their seeds with a flat
disk of fine hairs to produce a parachute to keep the seed aloft. Bulrushes produce many millions of
dust-like seeds, each of which has its own tuft of fluff to give it a bigger area to be caught by the wind.

Examples of seeds spread by this method are:

Amberbo

Thistle

Liatris

Felicia

Fleabane

Dandelion

Seeds that are released from their pod by the wind

Many more plants just need the wind to bend their stalks so that the seeds spill out of the seed pod.

Columbine

Poppy

Evening Primrose

Some seed pods face downwards, but very many have their opening at the top, and these need the wind
to bend their stalks enough to allow the seeds to fall out. This often means that the seeds will not fall
directly under the parent plant, because the stalk holding the seedpod is bent at an angle, so the seeds
fall a little way from the parent.

Very many popular garden plants and wildflowers, too, scatter their seeds this way, so it must be an
efficient method of spreading seeds.

Some seeds dispersed by this method are:

Agrostemma

Nemophila

Dianthus
Nigella

Calceolaria

Lilium

Pokok Gapis

Daripada Wikipedia, ensiklopedia bebas.

Pokok Gapis

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Pengelasan saintifik

Alam: Tumbuhan

Divisi: Magnoliophyta

Kelas: Magnoliopsida

Order: Fabales

Famili: [[]]

Genus: Saraca

Spesies:S. thaipingensis

Pokok Gapis (bahasa Inggeris: Yellow Saraca) ialah satu spesies tumbuhan dalam famili Fabaceae yang
berasal dari Semenanjung Malaysia, dan banyak terdapat di sepanjang sungai di bahagian utara negara
tersebut. Nama botaninya Saraca thaipingensis.

Akar Pokok Gapis biasa digunakan untuk membuat pemegang parang.

Ciri-ciri fizikal

Pokok Gapis tumbuh sehingga 10 meter (33 kaki) tingginya. Ciri-ciri fizikalnya yang lain adalah seperti
berikut:
Daun: Besar, berwarna hijau tua, dan dibahagikan menjadi daun-daun kecil.

Bunga: Tumbuh secara langsung daripada batang pokok, dahan, atau ranting, dalam bentuk rumpun
yang besar. Warnanya kuning aprikot, dengan mata yang merah terang. Bagaimanapun, struktur-
struktur yang kelihatan seolah-olah kelopak sebenarnya adalah sepalnya. Bunga ini amat wangi, dan
Pokok Gapis kelihatan amat cantik pada waktu bunga berkembangan.

Buah: Merupakan lenggai yang besar, leper, amat keras, dan berwarna ungu. Buah ini yang
mengandungi banyak biji perang hitam sering dimakan oleh monyet dan tupai.