Page 54 - The Miracle In The Seed

THE MIRACLE IN THE SEED

The seeds of bulrushes are dispersed by both
water and wind. This plant has a mace-like
section consisting of thousands of tiny
tightly-packed fruits. As the picture shows,
little tufts on the fruits allow the seeds to be
transported when the time comes. (Grains de
Vie, p. 40.)

Lys de mer, a plant
that grows on
Mediterranean shores,
has slightly angular
seeds. When the outer
case of the seeds ma-
tures, it takes on a
mossy appearance.
These seeds are also
dispersed by floating
on water. (Grains de
Vie, p. 40.)

The willow (Salix) can repro-
duce very quickly and easily.
Its seeds are dispersed by
very diverse means as they
can float on the air with ease and also on water. If the willow tree produces 500
catkins, and if each of these contains 100 seedpods and each of these pods con-
tains 200 seeds, that means that 10 million seeds are produced annually. If every
one of these managed to germinate, the face of the Earth would soon be full of wil-
lows. But thanks to the fine balance created in nature, this does not happen, and
only a few of these seeds grow into trees. (Grains de Vie, p. 41.)