Day 34 - Sensational Seed heads

Fluffy clematis rustle and shimmer in my garden

I think Autumn is one of the nicest seasons. Nature beds downs and gets ready for winter and you see all sorts of unusual things. Seed heads of plants come in many shapes and sizes and I think they are lovely. The pictures show you a few different types and my favourite is the clematis seed head which is actually in my back garden. Sometimes in Spring I see lots of them floating about and these are the reasons why...

Seeds held captive by dew laden spiders webs



Spiky and ready to hitch a ride

• All plants need to reproduce so some plants use seed heads. 

• In Spring they will grow flowers which get pollinated and then form seed heads

• A bit later at the end of Autumn, or sometimes during winter or spring, they start to disperse and fly to new places and hopefully plant themselves into the ground where a new plant will grow.

What some types of seed heads do:

• A few types of trees (e.g. Sycamore Trees) have a particular shape seed that act as sort of a helicopter and when they are dispersed they basically drop to the ground quite slowly letting the wind carry them quite a long way.

• Some seeds just simply drop down making large areas of particular plants.

• The seed that is the 3rd one down in my pictures uses my favourite type of seed transportation. When it grows it waits for an animal or a person to brush by it and it basically just sticks to it and then the animal will eventually take it off and it will start to grow. This is kind of like hitch-hiking.

Some brighten up dull days like this Rosehip at Sutton Bank

• Some are eaten by birds and other animals which then take them off to other places and then disperse them in their droppings.

• Seed heads are packed full of food for the new plant to get a good start with. This is why birds like seeds. Some are good for us too like rosehips which are full of vitamins and can be made into syrups.

BBC Nature - Seed Heads

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.