Photo of a hand holding a black, 4-angled, turbinate fruit about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. A sandy beach is in the background.

The fruits of #Lecythidaceae are as diverse as the flowers. Barringtonia asiatica has fibrous drupes that float on ocean currents in the Indian Ocean. They are common drift fruits of the region. #hydrochory #dispersal #TropicalBotany 📷: William Terry Hunefeld CCBY4. #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

New NIOO publication: Float, fly, then sink: #wetland plant #seed buoyancy is lost after internal #dispersal by #waterbirds. #diplochory #hydrochory #endozoochory #biodiversity #zoochory #simulateddigestion
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05561-y

Multi-step #seeddispersal is common e.g #hydrochory then #endozoochory. Seeds float in water and then are ingested and dispersed by waterfowl. Our new study finds that after gut passage they sink into the seed bank @ajgreen_lab @ebdonana @BSBIbotany

Cerlin Ng CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. A diagnostic photo of the long narrow capsules and a few rectangular seeds. A small ruler shows the seeds are 2–3 cm long.

Wendy Cutler CC BY-SA 2.0 A close-up photo of a few corky, rectangular seeds resting on a grassy lawn.

Dolichandrone spathacea (#Bignoniaceae) is a mangrove tree from SE Asia & Australia. Unlike most members of the family, which have wind-dispersed, winged seeds, it has chunky, corky seeds that float. #hydrochory #dispersal 1: Capsules & seeds. 2: The seeds. #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Close-up photo of a single, shiny brown seed resting on leaf litter.

Swartzia polyphylla (#Fabaceae) is a rainforest tree from floodplains in the Amazon Basin with large seeds that float when released. As in many legumes, buoyancy is provided by the airspace between the cotyledons in the seed. #hydrochory #dispersal : Hervé Galliffet CCBYNC4 #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Close-up photo of five fruits, which are black and have 4 or so recurved horns (the lignified calyx lobes).

Trapa natans (#Lythraceae) is an annual water weed from Eurasia naturalized in the NE USA. The fruits have horns that are the hardened calyx lobes. The flowers are aerial, but fruits develop underwater & float when released at maturity. #hydrochory #dispersal #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a hand holding a sprouted coconut. Green leaves of the seedling are emerging from the fruit, as are a couple of thick roots.

Coconut (Cocos nucifera; #Arecaceae) is a champion disperser. Its fruits can float for months & still sprout when stranded. Nevertheless, it achieved its pantropical distribution with help from humans, for whom this is a supremely useful crop. #hydrochory #dispersal #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a wooden bowl with variously shaped seeds and fruits.

Plate of two photos. The upper photo shows the ridged & lobed endocarp Barringtonia acutangula (Lecythidaceae). The lower photo shows the bumpy, grenade-like endocarp of Sacoglottis amazonica (Humiriaceae).

I have a bowl of seeds/fruits picked up from beaches in Florida & Asia. My carpological collection includes Manicaria saccifera (#Arecaceae), Heritiera littoralis (#Malvaceae), Barringtonia acutangula (#Lecythidaceae) & Sacoglottis amazonica (#Humiriaceae). #hydrochory #dispersal #Botany 🌾🧪

Photo of three fruits floating in water. The fruits are borne in white cupules.

Each nut of Hernandia sp. (#Hernandiaceae) is subtended by a white, cup-shaped bract. When the fruits drop, the bracts act like boats, ferrying the fruits away. Once in New Guinea, I waded through a shallow pool covered by rafts of tiny Hernandia boats. #dispersal #hydrochory #Botany 🌾🧪

Photo of a beach with stranded seaweed and several large seeds.

Mucuna, Entada [sounds like a song from The Lion King 😂] species are common drift seeds carried from the Caribbean & C. & S. America to the shores of Florida by the Gulf Stream. Both are #Fabaceae & have long-lived seeds with internal air pockets. #dispersal #hydrochory #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Close-up photo of seven ovoid endocarps. Three are smooth, but four have hooked fibers extending from the endocarp. A ruler on the side shows that the endocarps are ca. 8 mm long. Zona, S. 2017. Seed dispersal of Chamaedorea cataractarum. Palms 61: 65–68.

In Zona 2017 (see Alt Text), I described how Chamaedorea cataractarum (#Arecaceae) deploys endocarp fibers after soaking in water. The fiber hooks promote dispersal (by increasing drag) & retard dispersal (by fixing the endocarp to the substrate). #hydrochory #dispersal #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a single, ovoid seed floating in water. A ridge or crest runs the length of the top of the seed.

This week, I’m banging on about hydrochory: dispersal by water. Heritiera littoralis (#Malvaceae) is a mangrove tree with water-dispersed fruits. You might imagine the ridge acts like a keel, but it’s more of a sail or a vane. #hydrochory #dispersal 📷: Douglas Goldman CCBY4 #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪