Video: Amazing Seed Plants Itself
Posted on May 28, 2011
Seeds of the Erodium cicutarium, a plant related to geraniums, can plant themselves. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, studied the plant's seeds, which after being launched up to half a meter away, can literally drill right into the ground. The seeds bury themselves by twisting and untwisting in response to changes in humidity. The researchers say the seeds accomplish this amazing feat with the help of awns, which are described as "helical bristles of dead but hygroscopically active tissue attached to the seeds." This time-lapse video shows one of the Erodium cicutarium seeds planting itself. Take a look:
The research was published here in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The video by Dennis Evangelista, a co-author of the study and research paper, can also be found here sciencemag.org.
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