Seed Compartment Impervious to Rain

Biological Strategy

Sea fig

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Protect From Excess Liquids

While water is essential to life, too much water or other liquids can overwhelm living systems. Excess liquids can, for example, decrease a living system’s access to oxygen, promote excessive bacterial or fungal growth, or strip away soil and nutrients. To prevent the accumulation of excess liquids, living systems must control the movement of liquids across their boundaries or surfaces. They do so using waterproofing materials or structures, slowing flow, and/or facilitating flow to move the liquid away. Plant leaves, for example, commonly have waxy surfaces comprised of water-repelling chemicals to keep water from engorging the leaves or facilitating bacterial and fungal growth.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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A seed-containing structure in some mesembryanthemums provides long-term protection for some seeds because it is impervious to rain.

“There is still a chance that the rain may not last long enough to sustain the seedlings and that they will die soon after they have germinated. Some mesems take out an insurance against even that possibility. They keep a small proportion of their seeds locked away in a compartment that no amount of raindrops can dislodge. These will only be released months, if not years later when the whole capsule has finally decayed. Then they take their chance with the rest of the seeds in the sandy ground.” (Attenborough 1995:278)

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The Private Life of Plants

21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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