All seeds are little incubators for baby trees and packed with the essential nutrients needed to start little acorns off on their path to becoming great oaks. But, because they house such precious cargo, nuts and seeds are designed to disperse and survive. By being able to disperse, they help the baby tree find a spot to grow away from direct completion for water, sunlight and nutrients, which their parents would otherwise take from them.
There are several ways that seeds can disperse, including flying, floating, rolling and bouncing. You can learn more about how flying seeds fly here. But did you know, that nuts are also a type of seed, and in fact, all nuts and seeds are types of fruit? That’s right! But, instead of the soft juicy flesh we expect on fruity fruits, these have a tough skin or casing instead. This is to protect the little seedling inside as the seed falls to the earth. Even the wings on flying seeds are a modified fruit membrane.