19
votes
Why do seeds grow upwards?
Because of a force known as geotropism - it is a reaction to gravity. The upward growth of shoots from seeds is known as negative geotropism whereas the downward growth of roots is known as positive ...
- 376
14
votes
Why do seeds grow upwards?
In addition to the geotropism mentioned in the other answers, experiments on the ISS have shown that plants will grow oriented in a manner such that “upward” (i.e. the stem, leaves, etc.) is toward a ...
- 241
9
votes
Accepted
Plant growing inside a fruit
That is a papaya seed showing vivipary, or premature sprouting. The plant is getting all the sugar it needs from the nutrients stored in the seed so it does not photosynthesize. If it were to run out, ...
- 106
6
votes
Accepted
Do de-husked seeds germinate?
De-husking and industrial storage reduces the germ's longevity quite a lot, although quite a lot of germs will still be viable if the humidity and microbial conditions are very stable, perhaps even a ...
- 9,113
5
votes
Seed head Identification. July in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Looks to me like an allium, but you'll find many of these look quite similar at this stage, I doubt you can get much further than that. See for example a Google image search for allium+flower+seeds (...
- 39.9k
4
votes
Accepted
What was the evolutionary advantage of having seeds so large that they could only be dispersed by megafauna?
There are a few advantages to megafauna:
they travel large distances and are hence are likely to be able to
spread your seeds widely.
They also eat large amounts, so can carry a lot of seeds and
...
- 8,934
4
votes
Accepted
What sort of seed pod is this?
It's actually not a seed pod, but rather a gall (see here or here for more info about galls). Specifically, it most likely is a gall belonging to the Oak Apple Gall Wasp (Amphibolips confluenta). You ...
- 28.5k
3
votes
Accepted
What is this fruit / nut?
Most likely a member of the genus Staphylea. Since you are in Pittsburgh, PA, it's most likely Staphylea trifolia L., or an introduced species.
- 364
3
votes
Accepted
What DNA does a self-fertile plant's seedling have?
Selfing (aka self-fertilizing) differs from cloning. When selfing occurs, the offspring is not an exact copy of the parent. When cloning occurs, the offspring is an exact copy (except for a few ...
- 67.8k
3
votes
What was the evolutionary advantage of having seeds so large that they could only be dispersed by megafauna?
You may be focusing too much on the megafauna. If there are selective advantages to making a big seed, some seeds at least will get bigger and bigger until there is no animal that will disperse them. ...
- 3,483
2
votes
Seed head Identification. July in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I agree with @BryanKrause that this is an Allium seed head. The seed pod and seed on the end give it away
For another partial match from a commonly cultivated plant in domestic gardens, Agapanthus ...
- 8,934
2
votes
Accepted
Identification of tree seed pods observed in Western Australia near the city of Perth in February
I don't know the exact species, but this is likely to be a Hakea species. These are a widespread genus of plants in Australia, with a hard persistent woody seed that splits open after heating (usually ...
- 8,934
2
votes
Accepted
Determine which seed will germinate first
You'd have to know the individual germination times for each family. I'm linking a table for vegetables, but it doesn't include the three plants you're looking at. A google search for each one ...
- 1,152
2
votes
Accepted
What is an example of a plant species that is a halophyte with seeds that germinate quickly?
It turns out that your research question about halophytes has been asked many times before. You should learn from your predecessors...
Seed germination in halophytes displays a high degree of inter- ...
- 28.5k
2
votes
Self-fertile PRUNUS: Approximately how much of the genome gets rearranged by meiosis?
As has been pointed out, it isn't so much a question of how much gets rearranged (because everything is potentially shuffled) but is really a question of how much is lost or changed, since any genes/...
2
votes
Accepted
Self-fertile PRUNUS: Approximately how much of the genome gets rearranged by meiosis?
It makes little sense to give a percentage of the genome impacted by recombination and segregation. I think you should read about segregation and recombination and that would be clear to you why ...
- 67.8k
2
votes
Inexpensive way to determine mass of tiny seeds?
A pharmacy is a public business, and they should have a scale sensitive enough to weigh seeds. They will have to let you in back to use it of course. If you show up with her and she has the seeds ...
- 2,956
2
votes
How does one identify a seed's species & variety?
Yes, their name are "molecular marker". Every gene carrying a phenotype, quantitative or qualitative, is identified as an allele of every gene encoding for proteins.
In order to identify a phenotype ...
- 406
1
vote
Accepted
What are these little leaves growing on these other leaves? (plant growing near the ocean)
These are really cool, and I am absolutely not certain of this, but I would hazard that they might be some kind of bulbil? Ferns (if I have started my ID correctly) can use them to asexually reproduce....
- 940
1
vote
How should lentil roots grow in a microgravity system?
It sounds like your first issue is with seed germination. I am assuming you are doing a seed sterilization. You may want to try allowing them to imbibe water for about an hour after the sterilization ...
- 131
1
vote
Are there seeds intended to feed eaters?
There's a very interesting case of mutualism between the species Homo sapiens and Oryza Sativa (also Triticum aestivum...). The humans have bred the plants to produce highly nutritious seeds, much ...
- 847
1
vote
Wax layer destruction from seed coats
This paper describes dewaxing of sunflower seeds using various solvents. As you have already shown for yourself, using hydrophilic substances such as bleach and acids do not work well in removing the ...
- 9,424
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible