The seeds of the Java cucumber hover in the air and glide smoothly thanks to a wing structure that allows it to move away from the mother plant
I seeds of the Java cucumber I'm able to fly with grace and elegance for considerable distances before glide smoothly to the ground and give life to a new plant.
These seeds can fly thanks to the wing structure up to thirteen centimeters wide and to their low weight that allow them to move far away from the plant that generated them.
THEswing in the air of the seeds of the Java cucumber is spettacolare and in the past it has the pioneers of flight were also intrigued and inspired.
The Java cucumber makes its seeds fly, which glide over the earth
ll Java cucumber (Alsomitra macrocarpa) is a climbing liana belonging to the Curbitaceae family.
Il fruit of the Java cucumber it is the typical peponid of this family of plants, which also includes melon, pumpkin, watermelon and cucumber.
Arrived at maturity, the fruit opens and lets out a large quantity of winged seeds hovering in the air e they make a real flight in which they go up losing speed and then regain it and go up again.
This motion in the air is repeated in a constant way allowing the seed of the Java cucumber to travel considerable distances before gliding smoothly to the ground.
The oscillation of the seeds of the Java cucumber intrigued and inspired several pioneers of flight: Igo Etric, an Austian aviator, in 1910 built the Etrich Taube monoplane based on the study of the seeds of the Alsomitra macrocarpa.
Il flight of Java cucumber seeds is made possible by their low weight (0,2 grams) and the presence of two wing appendages which extend to the sides of the seed for a total length of about 13 centimeters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xme5Qg5_C8
Because plants disperse their seeds at a distance
Before the sow germinate giving rise to a new plant individual, it must be removed from the plant that produced it.
La seed dispersal, or dissemination, can directly affect the seeds or the whole fruit or parts of the fruit and is a process essential for survival of a plant species.
If the seeds all germinated near the mother plant, numerous identical plants would develop in the same area, with equal nutrient requirements.
Plants would cluster and they would compete with each other for the mineral salts and water present in the soil and for the light.
This it would harm all individuals plants, including the mother plant, and would not allow the species to spread to new territories.
Plants therefore use different strategies and means to remove seeds as much as possible from the plant that generated them and these strategies allow the seeds to travel more or less long journeys.
As with the dispersion of pollen, also the seed dispersal can be entrusted to the wind, water or animals.
Anemocora dissemination, that which occurs by the wind, is made possible thanks to the formation of the chalice in pappus - as often occurs in Asteraceae - at small size and the lightness of some fruits and seeds or the formation of wing structures, as happens to seeds of the Java cucumber.
In some cases the plant actively participates in the dissemination through particular strategies, for example by increasing the pressure inside the fruit and thus causing a real explosion that disperses seeds over great distances.
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Tatiana Maselli
