WOW! Walking Seeds: A Fascinating Phenomenon in Nature

Have you ever wondered how plants disperse their seeds? While some rely on wind or water to carry their offspring, there is a unique group of plants known as “walking seeds” that have evolved a remarkable way to move and propagate. 

Walking seeds, also known as tumbleweeds or tumble seeds, belong to various plant families, including Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Asteraceae. These plants have developed an extraordinary adaptation to ensure the survival and dispersal of their seeds.

The most well-known example of a walking seed is the iconic tumbleweed. As the plant dries out, its stem weakens, causing the entire plant to detach from the ground. Once free, the tumbleweed becomes both a seed carrier and a means of seed dispersal. Driven by the wind, it tumbles across the landscape, scattering its seeds as it goes.

Another group of walking seeds are “jumping seeds” or “hopping seeds.” These plants have unique seed structures that allow them to move in a rather whimsical manner. One example is the Hura crepitans, commonly known as the “sandbox tree.” Its seed pods contain multiple chambers filled with seeds. As the seed pods dry, the chambers burst open, propelling the seeds several meters away. It’s truly a mesmerizing sight to witness these seeds hopping across the forest floor.

Walking seeds have also evolved in the Orchidaceae family. The seeds of some orchid species are incredibly tiny and lack endosperm, making them highly vulnerable to desiccation. To overcome this challenge, orchids have developed a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi provide nutrients to the seed, ensuring its survival and growth. Through this unique partnership, orchid seeds are dispersed by wind, water, or even animal movement, giving them the opportunity to find a suitable environment for germination.

Nature never ceases to amaze us with its ingenious adaptations, and walking seeds are a perfect example of this. These incredible plants have found unique ways to ensure their survival and dispersal, captivating us with their intricate mechanisms.

The Glass Beach of the Ussuri Bay is a unique and beautiful destination for beach lovers. Located in Russia’s Far East, the Ussuri Bay is known for its clear waters and stunning natural beauty. However, it’s the Glass Beach that truly sets the area apart.

The Beach gets its name from the thousands of pieces of colorful glass that can be found along its shore. This glass is a remnant of the area’s industrial past, when the nearby factories would dump their waste into the bay. Over time, the waves and tide have worn down the glass, creating smooth and colorful pebbles.

Visitors to the Glass Beach can spend hours combing the shoreline, searching for the perfect piece of glass to take home as a souvenir. The most common colors of glass found on the beach are green, blue and brown.

It is a perfect place for beachcombing, hiking, and fishing as well as for swimming, sunbathing and other beach activities. There are several hiking trails in the area that offer fantastic views of the bay and the surrounding mountains. The beach also has several picnic areas and restrooms.

While the Glass Beach is a unique and beautiful destination, it’s important to remember that it is also an ecological reserve. Visitors are asked to take only small amounts of glass and to leave the area as they found it. This will help ensure that future generations can enjoy the Glass Beach for years to come.

In conclusion, The Glass Beach of the Ussuri Bay is a unique, beautiful, and must-see destination for beach lovers and nature enthusiasts. With its clear waters, stunning natural beauty, and thousands of pieces of colorful glass, it’s a perfect place to relax, explore, and make memories.

Ever wondered where our regular spices come from? How are they grown? How those spice plants and trees look like? Here a quick image walk through that shall give you all answers. Also few YouTube videos are linked, fi you want you can learn more or even grow on your personal garden or even on a flower pot.

Our world is full of beautiful things whether it is nature or man-made structure. But most beautiful as well as some very wired and bizarre example we can find in the huge animal species. According to scientists, thers are 8.7 million animal species on earth. In this series of article ‘Bizarre Animals’ I will try to list down some of those species which are not very usual looking, and very very bizarre.

Who doesn’t love nature? Because of our city-bound lifestyle, we are being far removed from the nature, from natural greeneries. But here a few example of clever architecture and development that made the nature a part of it’s own.

Many have wondered why this purple and/or  green vegetable widely available in many Asian countries is called Eggplant. A simple question boggled many young minds, why eggplant is called eggplant? Something seems isn’t right? But yes, it is known named eggplant for reasons. View the web story below to know.

A bit more facts about Eggplant / Aubergine / Brinjal

1. in 2018, China and India combined produced 87% of world’s total brinjal.
2. Other than egg-like round shape and long ones, brinjal comes in in the shape of green bellpepper and small cherry.
3. Aubergine is full of nutrients
4. Brinjal is used as vegetable, but it is fruit by botanical definition. Technically it is a berry.
5. Commonly believed that, Brinjal originated in India.

View Story slides here

Sources:

1. Images : Mostly from Pixabay, ClearPNG, Wikipedia, and Pexels.
2. Information: wikipedia, Healthline

Left: Ripe Barbados Cherry (Image source). Right: Flower and unripe Barbados cherry (Own Image)

What caught me off-guard is the amount of vitamin C it contains, which is only rivaled by couple of few other fruits. It contains 1,500+ mg per 100g of vitamin C whereas 100g of regular lemons and oranges have around 52mg vitamin C. For adults, the recommended daily amount for vitamin C is 65 to 90 milligrams (mg) a day, and the upper limit is 2,000 mg a day.

This is kind of big news to me, as the CoronaVirus pandemic is ravaging the world since the beginning of 2020, and with no known cure people are looking to strengthen their immunity by taking vitamins from natural sources or from pharmaceuticals.

Vitamin C Comparison and Daily Need

Amla: 600mg/100mg

Guava: 228mg/100g

Bell Pepper (Not green): 128mg/100mg

Kiwifruit: 92.7mg/100g

Broccoli: 89.2mg/100g

Papaya: 61mg/100g

Orange and Lemon: 53mg/100g

Pineapple: 47.8mg/100g

Lime (Green lemons): 29mg/100mg

The plant and climate

This small tree can grow upto 6m (20ft) and a tropical plant native to South America. It also grows well in sub-tropical areas of Asia, like India and Bangladesh.

“Acerola can be propagated by seed, cutting, or other methods. It prefers dry, sandy soil and full sun, and cannot endure temperatures lower than 30 °F/-1 °C. Because of its shallow roots, it has very low tolerance to winds.” – Wikipedia

Used for

“The fruit is edible and widely consumed in the species’ native area, and is cultivated elsewhere for its high vitamin C content. About 1677 mg of vitamin C are in 100 g of fruit. The fruit can be used to make juices and pulps, vitamin C concentrate, and baby food, among other things.

A comparative analysis of antioxidant potency among a variety of frozen juice pulps was carried out, including the acerola fruit. Among the 11 fruit pulps tested, acerola was the highest-scoring fruit, meaning it had the most antioxidant potency, with a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity score of 53.2 mg.” – Wikipedia.

Photo Gallery: Barbados Cherry (Acerola)