Traveling Seeds

INTRODUCTION

Seeds, which come in many shapes and sizes, must all be able to travel, because if they stay too close to their parent plant they will not be able to find enough light, water, and nutrients to grow. Different types of seeds use different parts of nature to help them travel. This experiment is designed to investigate a variety of seeds and their diverse modes of transportation.

MATERIALS

• Various types of seeds
• Container of water
• Wool sock or piece of felt
• Hand-held fan

WHAT TO DO

1. Ask students to sort the seeds into groups that they think use the same method of travel.
2. Ask students to explain how they think the seeds travel and how they reached that conclusion.
3. Work with students to develop a method to test their predications about the seeds’ travel mechanisms. Point out the other supplies available for use, such as the container of water, the fan and the wool sock.
4. Be prepared to help students use any testing method they think will effectively test their hypothesis, but keep these ideas in mind if steering is needed. Test wind carried seeds by gently blowing seeds with the fan, test hitch hiking seeds by pressing the sock on top of a selection of seeds, test floating seeds by placing seeds in water, test pop and toss seeds by gently pressing or twisting their containers, and search for seeds that may be discarded from juicy, fleshy fruits.

QUESTIONS

1. List three ways seeds travel. Give an example of a seed that uses each type of transportation.
2. How do dandelion seeds travel? Why do you think they use that method of transportation?
3. How do animals and humans help disperse seeds?

SUMMARY

Seeds can travel by wind, water, by clinging to animals fur or to peoples’ clothes, and seeds travel as animals eat them and pass them through droppings. Dandelion seeds are blown by the wind, and maple seeds (helicopters) whirl away from the tree, carried by the wind. Seeds that travel by water include many of the plants that grow in ditches, as well as coconuts, which float well. Animals and people eat many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and in doing so we move many seeds far from the places they originally grew. Clinging seeds that hitch rides on animal fur include many nuts, as well as cockleburs and foxtails.

SOURCE

"Plants and Flowers." Sally Hewitt, Children’s Press, Groiler Publishing: New York, 1998. ISBN 0-516-21176-5.

© S. Olesik, WOW Project, Ohio State University, 2003.