What is SEED DISPERSAL ?

In nature same kind of plants grow at different places. This happens because seeds are dispersed to different places.
Sometimes after a walk through a forest or a field or a park, you may have found seeds or fruits sticking to your clothes. There would be severe competition for sunlight, water, mineral sand space. As a result the seeds would not grow into healthy plants. Plants benefit by seed dispersal. It prevents competition between the plant and its own seedlings for sunlight, water and minerals. It also enables the plants to invade new habitats for wider distribution. Seeds and fruits of plants are carried away by wind, water and animals. Winged seeds such as those of drumstick and maple , light seeds of grasses or hairy seeds of aak (Madar) and hairy fruit of sunflower , get blown off with the wind to far away places. Some seeds are dispersed by water. These fruits or seeds usually develop floating ability in the form of spongy or fibrous outer coat as in coconut. Some seeds are dispersed by animals, especially spiny seeds with hooks which get attached to the bodies of animals and are carried to distant places. Examples are Xanthium and Urena. Some seeds are dispersed when the fruits burst with sudden jerks. The seeds are scattered far from the parent plant. This happens in the case of castor and balsam.

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