8/10/2019 Plant Travelers

1/3

Found throughout the garden mostly weedy

Dandelion Each seed is attached to a parachute and travels like a helicopter, traveling long

distances by wind.

Cranes bill Seeds are carried on fur or clothing. Each seed has a long tail which curls into a

spiral after exploding from the fruit.

False strawberry The red strawberry-like fruit attracts birds (and children!). The birds eat them

and the tiny seeds travel quite rapidly through the birds gut, being dispersed randomly as the

bird flies. Note: though the fruits are very similar, the flowers are yellow, not white like those of

Fragaria Chiloensis.

Impatiens Fruit develops into exploding capsules which burst when the buildup of water pressure

in the ovary wall causes it to break. Touching the pod (ovary) can cause ready-to-explode pods to

shoot the seeds away.

Forget-me-not The sepals containing the seeds develop hooked hairs which fasten to fur or

clothes, thus traveling by hitchhiking.

Eucalyptus The flowers are many stamened followed by tough, woody capsules covered by

caps which pop off when seeds are ripe exposing four symmetrical, small holes through which

seeds shake out. They are spread by gravity and wind.

Monterey Pine This is a coastal pine with dark green needles in bundles of three. It is one of the

closed-cone pines, keeping its cones for many years, even though the seeds are ripe in two years.

Large female cones could open with great age, but most often they open from heat of a forest.

The seeds are tiny and light surrounded by wings enabling them to travel by wind.

From around the world

Holly This plant has red berries attracting birds. Even though the seed is poisonous, it is eaten

and travels through the birds gut very rapidly. Only the fleshy part is digested, not the hard seed

which is pooped out as the bird flies.

New Zealand flax This plant of tall strap leaves produces inflorescences in late summer, and

later capsules of flat black seeds which travel by the wind.

Columbine The seeds form in capsules which spread the seeds like a salt shaker as the wind

blows.

Youth Education Programof San Francisco Botanical Garden Society

Plant Travelers

Seeds in the Garden

8/10/2019 Plant Travelers

2/3

Plant TravelersSeeds in the Garden

2

Cuphea Look for flowers on the ground or the ones on the lower part of the plant. Tear off the

tube-like petal; you will find a capsule of seeds. Dead flowers travel by hitchhiking.

Cassia A member of the pea family forming pods (like beans) that split open when ripe. Travels

by gravity. A shrub that almost always has buds, flowers and fruit accessible.

Fuchsias Has flowers most of the time as well as berries which attract birds.

Salvia Seeds are found in the capsule formed by the sepals. These travel by gravity, the entire

flower falls, breaking down in the soil. Sages or salvias in the native section form little nutlets

which are shaken from the sepal cups. They become sticky when wet, then float or stick to animal

fur. The seeds are considered nutritious.

Linden or Basswood Flowers, and then after pollination, the seeds are on a flattened peduncle

(stem) which is carried away from the plant by the wind.

English Walnut Seeds (nuts) are dispersed by animals (people and squirrels).

Native plants

Cow Parsnip Fruits contain two thin wafer-like halves, each containing one seed. Each half is

winged traveling a short distance from the mother plant by the wind.

Evening primrose The plant has yellow flowers on the top of a three foot stalk. Lower down on

the stalk develop capsules, or mature ovaries, containing seed which rattle and shake when the

wind blows causing a salt shaker-like dispersal.

Seaside daisy Even the flowering disc flowers show a fuzzy, hairy pappus on top of each tiny

ovary. These ovaries enlarge with one seed inside, allowing seeds to float a long distance along

the shoreline by the wind.

Wild Iris Late in the summer or early fall a three-sided capsule forms with seeds that the wind

shakes out. The seeds are round so they can roll away.

Buckeye Not all flowers in the candle-like inflorescences get pollinated. However, there are

usually one or two that do, forming buckeyes that are round. They fall by gravity then roll,

especially on a hill. Its called buckeye because it has the appearance of a large eye when it

begins to split open.

Manzanita Berries are red when ripe resembling tiny apples (the meaning of the common name

in Spanish). The berries are favorite food for bears and other animals. The hard seeds need to

pass through gastric and intestinal digestion, or can be cracked by fire, to become viable.

8/10/2019 Plant Travelers

3/3