Carolina Cranesbill: Seed Dispersal

The seed head of Carolina Cranesbill (Geranium carolinianum) consists of a central spike or beak and seedpods. A finely veined (reticulated) seed is inside each seedpod.

As the seed head dries the seedpods split open on their bottom sides.



With the seedpods removed from the plant you can see the seeds inside.

At the same time, the central spike shrinks and splits along it length into separate strips. A seedpod is at the bottom of each strip. Because of the shrinkage, the strips want to curl but cannot because they are still attached at their tops and bottoms.

Eventually, the bottom connection on a strip breaks beneath the seedpod. The strip pops upward as if it were spring loaded, which in effect, it is. As the seedpod attached to the bottom of the strip arcs upward, the seed inside is toss out away from the mother plant.



Empty seedpods after they've popped upward and tossed the seeds they contained away from the mother plant.

Carolina Cranesbill: Seed Dispersal

Witch-Hazel

The First Flowers of the New Year

Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)


One of the reasons Jo and I wanted to walk along the creek on Sunday was to see if the witch-hazel was blooming. It was.

The more common species of witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) grows throughout eastern North America. It blooms in the late fall. Hamamelis vernalis is native to the Ozarks region. It blooms during the late winter and continues until early spring and is usually found in gravel or rocky stream beds or at the base of rocky slopes along streams. The flowers tend to be more reddish and have a spicy aroma.

Witch-hazel has many traditional uses. It was the wood of choice for "dowsing" -- finding underground water (or sometimes other valuable objects) using a Y-shaped branch. Extracts from the leaves, twigs, and bark were used to reduce inflammation, stop bleeding, and check secretions of the mucous membranes. Astringent skin care products made from American witch-hazel are still available from Dickinson's.

Although I will probably never be at the right place at the right time, I'd really like to witness witch-hazel seed dispersal. Over the next year after blooming, two shiny black seeds develop in a woody capsule. The capsules mature at about the time the following year's flowers open. Then, the capsules split so explosively that they eject the seeds up to twenty-five feet away from the mother plant.

Witch-Hazel