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Some plants produce seeds that can
use the wind to carry them away from the
parent in a wide area over long distances. Anemochory require very
light seeds that are easily blown away by the wind. Larger
wind-dispersed seeds are generally heavier and therefore require
features such as parachutes or wings to help keep them flying in the
air. The largest and heaviest wind-dispersed seeds, such as maple (Acer
sp.)
cannot flutter on hair-like parachutes to keep them airborne. They would
have to be enormous to be effective. Instead they have developed a wing
which causes them to spin through the air like helicopters. This again
delays their fall. The biggest seeds of all cannot possibly be dispersed
by the wind. |
