Seed Dispersal Essay

Plants can reproduce both sexually & asexually. When producing offspring sexually, plants cannot simply grow legs to find a mate nor can they maneuver their sex cells to a different plant all by themselves in order to reproduce. So how do they do it? Well there are multiple ways that this process occurs. All of which differentiate who or what helps the plant spread its seeds. Plants spread their seeds through wind, water, & animals. A perfect example of how wind disperses seeds of plants is the dandelion. Dandelions have parachute or umbrella like hairs, also known as pappus, above the one seed in the plant. Any sliver of wind can take these plants airborne for surprisingly long distances. There is also the birdcage plant which can be conveniently identified as the ball shaped plant that rolls through the desert with the help of wind. The birdcage plant does not use the wind to lift it and carry it through the air but rather it uses the wind to push its seed carrying body across the dry desert lands. Glider plants as you can probably guess glide through the wind in order to diffuse their seeds. Gliders include seeds with two lateral wings that resemble air planes. This seed reportedly inspired the design of early aircraft models. Surely not all plants use wind the same way to disperse seeds but without the wind plant dispersal for these plants would not be possible. Next is the dispersal of seeds through water. Take the mangrove plants for instance. Mangroves spread propagules with flexible degrees of embryonic development while the propagule is attached to the parent tree. The shape of the propagule differs on the type of mangrove (red, white, black). A coconut, which is a large seed itself, in junction with the mangroves, uses water. Despite the size, a coconut can still float through water; At times traveling across seas & oceans. The sea bean, yellow water lily, foxglove, water mint, and willow also use this method. The grabble plant, also