The Impressive World of Seeds
Bet you didn’t know about this…
Who among us did not have seed-spitting contests as kids? When I was younger, I was certain that the best part of the watermelon was the seeds, which I then tried to spit farther than my best friend. But if I had known then what I know now, I would have been trying to impress my friend with seed trivia, too. In between spitting those seeds farther than her, of course.
The largest seed known to man is the “Double Coconut Palm” or more accurately, Lodoicea maldivica One fruit can weigh up to 50 pounds and contain one, single seed.
The smallest seed belongs to the carrot. You can fit about 2000 carrot seeds in a teaspoon!
Did you know that when you eat pomegranate seeds, you’re eating not just the seed, but also the fleshy, bright-coloured covering called the sarcotesta? It’s the plant’s way of ensuring it gets spread far and wide. Nature’s smart that way.
Sunflowers come in a variety of heights and head types. The common sunflower, which is native to North America, can grow up to 10 feet tall, but there are shorter types as well that only grow to 6 or 7 inches high. The Helianthus annuus head will eventually turn to seed, (up to 200 of them!) which can be harvested and dried. If you can beat the birds to them.
Seed Source.com says,
“…evidence suggests that nearly 3,000 years ago Native Americans began domesticating the Common Sunflower by hand selecting the largest seeds for replanting the next year. This eventually yielded a product with larger seeds, that the Indians used for food, oil, crafts and medicine. Native Americans would pound and boil the flower for dyes which they used in weaving and basketry. Some medicinal usages for common sunflower are for: snakebites, spider bites, pulmonary ailments, burns, malaria, high fevers, diuretics and expectorants. Not only are the seeds edible but also the sprouts and the yellow petals make a tasty addition to salads.”
Even cooler than that? The arrangement of the sunflower seeds follows the mathematical Fibonacci sequence.
Did you know that no matter which way a seed is planted, its roots will always grow down and the stem will always grow up? That’s because the gentle pull of gravity always draws the roots in the correct direction and the cotyledons (also called seed leaves) will always grow up because they can sense light.
Seeds hold the key to our future. In fact, 9 Soviet scientists agreed during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II and died of starvation while protecting the world’s largest seed bank, refusing to eat what they saw as their country’s future. Now that’s dedication!
In 1963, 2,000-year-old seeds were discovered inside an ancient jar in Israel. They were planted in 2005 and a tree that had been extinct for over 1800 years sprouted. Now, why can’t I get my pumpkin seeds I bought 4 years ago to sprout?(It’s all about storage in ideal conditions, but that’s another post for another time)
Finally, I want to share with you a seedy tidbit that you can mention the next time you’re at a gathering and want to impress people. The world record for spitting a watermelon seed is 65 feet 4 inches. I never managed to spit my seeds that far when I was younger, but I’m certain my friend and I would have been impressed by a record like that.
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