Private Life of Plants Part 1 Branching Out Film

  1. European Bramble grows three inches a day.
  2. Fungi use the wind for spore dispersal. Examples are: Puff Balls and Earth Stars.
  3. Liana Vines in Borneo have delta shaped winged seeds. Seeds drift in the air for hundreds of feet. Charles Northrop used this seed in the development of the Flying Wings which was the basis for the modern Stealth Fighter.
  4. Winged Sycamore seeds spin like the rotors of helicopters in flight.
  5. Tristar plant winged seeds use the same principle but have six blades.
  6. Water is also used in seed dispersal. A classic example is the Sea Bean. This plant has the largest seed pods in the world. Plants grow near water and the seed pods fall off in the water and wash to the sea where the ocean currents carry them for thousands of miles. A seed may start in Africa and wind up on the other side of the earth where it germinates.
  7. Animals carry seed and disperse them through their digestive tracts. Examples are: Cassowaries have blue wattles and blue seeds attract them.
  8. Seeds are dispersed through clinging. Examples are: Seed cases of the Grapple Plant hooking to the feet of ostriches and Cocklebur seed hooking into the fur of mammals.
  9. Fruit smells attract seed carriers. Examples are: Durian Fruit attracting Orangutans in Borneo. The fruit and seeds are eaten and the seeds dispersed in the dung.
  10. The Trulia Tree of Nepal attracts the Indian Rhinoceros which eats the fruit in the deep forest and then moves on into clearings to defecate. Seeds are thus dispersed far from the parent trees.
  11. African Elephants do the same with Acacia Tree fruit and seeds.
  12. Brazil Nut Trees depend upon the Agouti for the same purpose. Only Agoutis have teeth strong enough to open the seed pods.
  13. Arolla Pines in Europe depend on the Alpine Nut Cracker bird to deposit their seeds.
  14. Ivy-Leaved Toad Flax plants its own seeds by drilling them in because of moisture content of the air.
  15. South African Protea Flowers produce seed and have to wait for fire to open the seed pods to scatter the seeds.
  16. 2,000 year old Magnolia seeds have been excavated in Ascada, Japan. They still germinate.