Page 3 - LN3
P. 3

Coconut seed                                       Lotus seeds




         Dispersal by animals:

         Seeds can be dispersed by animals as well. Some seeds have hooks or spines, by which they stick to the
         body of animals and thus carried away. The seeds of cocklebur have spines, which help them to stick to the
         body of animals. Many birds and animals swallow the seeds while eating the fruit. However, these seeds
         are not digested and come out unchanged in the animals’ droppings, thus germinating in different places.


         Humans also help in dispersing seeds. We eat fruit and throw away their seeds. When some seeds fall on
         the ground and receive proper condition, they germinate.


















                          Dispersal by birds                                    Dispersal by animals

         Dispersal by explosion:


         Some plants distribute their seeds by violently ejecting them so that they fall well away from the parent
         plant. This is explosive dispersal. They produce seed pods which dry in the sun. As a pod dries, tensions
         are set up in the wall of the pod eventually causing it to split along two lines of weakness.
   1   2   3