Plants moving without moving
How Do Seeds Travel?
Plants cannot walk, so seeds hitch rides on wind, water, animals and springs.
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Step 1 of 5
Landing under the parent is a death sentence.
The parent already takes the light, water and nutrients there. A seed that drops straight down is competing with a much bigger plant.
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Step 2 of 5
Wind carries the light ones.
Travelling light is exactly that: very little food packed for the journey. Dandelion parachutes and sycamore wings slow the fall so a breeze can take them. They must be tiny, which means very little food packed in.
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Step 3 of 5
Fruit pays animals to do it.
Sweet flesh is a bribe. The animal eats the fruit, walks away, and deposits the seed elsewhere with a supply of fertiliser.
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Step 4 of 5
Some hook a lift instead.
Burrs have hooks that grip fur and socks. The animal gets nothing at all — this is a pure free ride, and often a long one.
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Step 5 of 5
A few launch themselves.
Some pods dry out unevenly until tension snaps them open, flinging seeds metres away. It is short-range, but it needs no outside help.
Velcro was invented after an engineer examined the burrs stuck to his dog under a microscope.
The short version
Seeds travel by wind, water, animal or spring-loaded launch, because landing under the parent means losing.
Try it yourself
Walk through long grass in wool socks, then check them. Every stuck seed just used you as transport.