Questions about seeds from hot and dry summer areas

Jamie jamievande@freenet.de
Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:14:51 PDT
Jane,

you mentioned "tumbleweed" dispertion.  Is this a mechanism used by the
drumstick Alliums?  It would explain their inflorescenses and the fact that
they typically free themselves from the bulb before they are ripe.  Perhaps
to start a journey and release ripe seed while underway?  This would answer
one of those garden puzzles that has nuzzled in the back of my brain for
some years.

Jamie V.
Cologne

> They would get VERY dry if they just lay on the open ground, of course,
but
> many Western American geophytes seem to disperse their seed (e.g., by
> "tumbleweed" inflorescences) so that it will blow into crevices, where
> presumably the seed would sift down and be somewhat protected from drying
> as well as from seed-eating birds and animals.


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