October 26, 2007 - By wind & fur, seeds are spread14A • The Suffolk Times • October 25, 2007
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Left: The horned poppy Is found along the beaches of the East End. Its unique ability to throw seeds was witnessed by us when we brought one home to pho-
tograph. When the heat from the stove warmed the plant, its seeds spun off and flew into the air. Center: Jewelweed, or touch -me -not, is the wild relative of
the common Impatiens we have around our houses. It has the ability to disperse its seeds when It Is disturbed, therefore the name touch -me -not. Right: These
bristly seed heads of the groundsel, or high tide bush, are Just waiting for the right time to be set adrift on the wind on their tiny gossamer parachutes.
By wind &fur, seeds are spread
How sad my garden looks. A good portion of it
has been taken over by weeds and what hasn't been
taken over by weeds seems to have given up. My
tomato vines that produced so well only a short time
ago seem to have given up. The green tomatoes that
still cling to the vines will never fulfill their mission
of being red, ripe tomatoes
But not all is lost: We'll pick the green tomatoes
and make one grand pot of relish that will be put
into jars and stacked on shelves for use throughout
the year. Our lettuce that gave us such hardy salad
green, has gone to seed and taken a defeated look
hardly visible amongst the
FOCUS weeds, whose sole purpose of
living, I believe, is to take over
ON the world.
The one thing that always
NATURE does well in our garden is basil
— that wonderful herb that
by Paul saturates the air when I break
Stoutenburgh off some leaves to enhance
a special dish that Barbara is
making. I'll want to remember
to freeze a quantity of this most useful herb so we can
enjoy it throughout the year. True, it's not as good as
fresh basil, but it comes close to the real thing.
We've already cut back our scraggly butterfly
bushes that really do attract butterflies Years ago
we'd have a procession of Monarchs dancing every
day around their flowers and bushes, but this year
as well as last year you could count on one hand the
number of Monarchs that have stopped off at our
garden. They, like so many others, stop to refuel for
their perilous migration south.
The Virginia creeper that's climbed to the top of
the garden fence has turned on its fall colors of ma-
roon and scarlet. During normal days this creeper
goes unnoticed as it works itself amongst the roses,
and only when we see its bright colors of fall can we
tell where it's been hiding.
A single seed of a milkweed plant came floating
into our lives as we stood contemplating what to
do with our green tomatoes How perfect the silken
carrier of that single seed was as it drifted by. I could
only imagine where it had come from. It would have
been part of a tightly packed bundle of milkweed
seeds in a large seedpod waiting the day when every-
thing was in place for the big breakout. When that
occurred, the tightly packed pod split open and for
a moment the air would have been filled with the
magic of floating seeds Starting with the very first
escapee on a windy day, milkweed seeds would be
drifting away from their imprisoned cell.
Groumdsel, or high tide bush, along our waterways
and sometimes seen upland, has a similar way of
dispersing its seeds We were reminded of this as we
sat having lunch in Orient on Sunday as the air filled
with tiny seeds on gossamer wings, making it look
much like windblown snow. Everything was just right
after a night of rain and a good wind to set the tiny
seeds adrift.
The drifting seed of milkweed brought to mind
There's nothing more dazzling than the seed of the
milkweed as it floats through the air carrying its
precious cargo of life to a new location, where it will
strive to become a parent and fulfill its destiny.
that fall is the season when plants disperse their
seeds, and how they do it becomes a fascinating story.
Take, for instance, the common impatiens plants
we have around our homes They shoot their seeds
a good distance so that the new seedlings won't be
overshadowed by the parent plant.
If you haven't seen this dispersing of seeds by the
impatiens plant, try this the next time you are near
one. Look for the green seed pods that at this time
of the year are quite visible, pick one, hold it in your
warm hand, and within minutes it will burst open.
When you open your hand you'll see the tiny seeds
that would have been thrown a good distance away
from the parent plant if it had burst open on its own.
Kids love to try this This same procedure of dispers-
ing seeds is found in the wild in a close relative of the
impatiens plant called touch -me -not, or jewelweed.
I first became aware of the interesting way seeds
are dispersed when, some years ago, I brought home
for study a sprig of the horned poppy, found mainly
along the beaches of the East End. I placed the
flower with its interesting "horn" in a glass of water
and sat it on the windowsill in the kitchen. I hadn't
thought much about it until Barbara called out,
"Come here, I'm being shot at!" What had happened
was the warm temperature of the kitchen stove had
triggered the mechanism of the plant to disperse its
seeds, and we were lucky to be standing by. As the
Burdock looks harmless, but hidden within that
brown dried ball are masses of tiny hooks that
attach themselves to your clothing and, in doing
so, transport the plant's seeds to a new location.
What a mess to untangle yourself from those pes-
ky burrs, to say nothing of your long - haired dog
when It gets entangled.
seedpod became warm, the seeds spun their way off
of the main plant and shot into the air.
Of course, there are many other ways plants try
to get their seeds dispersed. Nine times out of 10, it's
just a matter of producing a large number of seeds
in hopes that some of them will be lucky and find
a place to germinate so that the parent's plans are
fulfilled.
Phragmites is that tall plume grass we see at the
headwaters of our creeks As a matter of fact, it can
be found growing almost anywhere there's a wet
spot. Its main way of spreading out into new territory
is by rhizomes. These are fast - growing, shallow roots
that sprout healthy green foliage over our native
plants, eventually eliminating them.
To reach areas its rhizomes cannot get to, phrag-
mites has a second means of attack.Those large
plumes we see at the end of sununer are seed pods,
which, when ripe, are released to the wind. The dis-
persal of its seeds on the wind accounts for patches
of this obnoxious plant growing almost anywhere
there is moisture, not only along our creeks and bays
but also in the middle of a vacant lot or roadside
drainage ditch.
One clever way for seed dispersal is in the way
burdock seeds are spread. When its flower heads
have dried to brown dime -size balls, they are ready
to go to work. That dime -size dried bail is designed
with a Velcro-like mass of tiny hooks. These dried
seeds stay on the plant all winter long in hopes some-
one or something will brush up against them. Then
multitudes of tiny hooks attach to the innocent pass-
erby and, in doing so, the seeds get moved to a new
location. For those of you who have been through
this, you know what a job it is to free yourself from
those burrs And how about the mess your long-
haired dog got itself into when it rubbed up against
the clever ball of hooks