Seeds: how new plants start
Biology · Key Stage 1 · The School
What a seed needs to wake up
A seed is asleep at first. It needs water to wake up. It needs warmth too. This waking-up is called germination. Most seeds do not need light to germinate. Light matters later, once leaves appear.
Inside a seed
A seed holds a tiny new plant. It also holds a store of food. This food feeds the new plant at the start. Once leaves grow, the plant makes its own food. The stored food is no longer needed.
Seeds that fly
Some seeds have fluffy parachutes. The wind carries them far away. Dandelion seeds work this way. Sycamore seeds spin like tiny helicopters. Both let the wind do the travelling. Other plants need no wind. Some pods burst open and fling their seeds out.
Seeds that hitch a ride
Some seeds are hidden inside tasty fruit. An animal eats the fruit. The seed passes through and comes out somewhere new. Other seeds have hooks. They stick to fur or socks and drop off later. Squirrels and birds carry other seeds too, dropping them far from the parent plant.
Let us follow one sycamore seed. Imagine it is fully grown on its tree in autumn. It has a wing. The wing catches the wind and spins the seed as it falls. So the wind carries it further from its parent tree. Away from its parent, the seed has its own space. It may compete less with the tree for light and water. The seed waits until spring. Then it germinates. A root comes out first. Then a shoot grows up. The stored food feeds it at first. Once its leaves open, it makes its own food. Moving away gives a seed a better chance. Not every seed makes it. This one did. It is now a young plant in a new place.