We have been learning about botany this year for science. I would like to show you some things we learned and did not know before. Flowers have to get pollenated before making seeds and animals that do this are bees, butterflies, hummingbirds… so when you see a bee in a flower its looking for nectar, a slimy liquid and bees make honey with it, but when their looking deep inside for nectar they get this yellow powder called pollen on them. It’s all a mistake!  So when they go to the next flower a tiny stem called a carpel collects some of the pollen and over time in the fall it makes fruits like apples, blueberries, tomatoes and all other kinds of fruits. Pollen can only go to the same species but not it’s own flower. A bee colony has a mission each day so one group go’s to one type of flower like a rose and another group go’s to another flower like a daisy, it’s amazing!

But once a plant makes seeds, how do they get planted? That’s easy, a farmer can plant thousands of seeds, but what about in thick forests filled with dangerous animals? Well their are other ways seeds can be dispersed, animal dispersal: an animal like a squirrel can plant many seeds, they can bury acorns in the dirt and then next year a little tree has grown! Animals also accidentally run in to a burr plant, a burr is like a bristly ball it is kind of like velcro so it sticks on an animals fur then when it gets home it scratches the burr which is also a seed and grows into another burr plant. Bad news to the animals! Their is water dispersal also, plants that live by the water may have special seeds like the mangrove tree that have seeds that float long distances and will find a suitable place to grow right on the shore. Another example are the water lilies they grow seeds that float for a short distance then sink to the bottom of the pond (or river). Another is called wind dispersal, a dandelion is a great example, like when you blow one all the seeds go flying away with the wind which would land on the ground then grow into another dandelion. Another one is the maple tree, the half winged seed case twirls down with the wind and grows into another maple tree. Human dispersal is when people like a farmer plants tons of seeds. The most interesting one is mechanical dispersal, the jewel weed is an orange flower like a jewel attracts lots of animals so when its ripe an animal like a bee will land on it then it’s seeds will shoot out in all directions making new jewel weed plants! Another one is called the squirting cucumber, it has a 2 inch cucumber-like case, when it’s nice and fat it explodes and a liquid mixed with the seeds shoot out and will grow into another squirting cucumber!

Plants are really amazing, so are the animals that pollenate them!

Jake