Tree-Seeds and the Art of Packaging
It is simply astonishing how much a tree cares for his own seeds. Trees are Masters in packaging. Have you ever looked at the seed capsule’s shapes, shades and textures? Have you examined the strength of the materials trees fabricate for the exclusive purpose of packaging their seeds? And every tree has an own design – unique in its styles and properties. Some trees build a fleshy sweet fruit around the seed. Some put their seeds in hard shells – while others equip their seeds with wings, parachutes and propellers. There are single seeds, twin seeds, small groups and entire seed colonies in a single shell. Some seeds are embedded in the softest silky threads that protect them not only from the fall from great heights, but also to let them rest in a dry and comfortable environment until their time comes. Trees are amazingly creative!
The pictures in this post show you a seed capsule of a Kapok tree. It’s about 5 to 6 inches long and enhouses many seeds that are comfortably padded with silky wool. The Kapok fibres are harnessed and used for stuffing mattresses and pillows and quilts – the most comfortable by the way although hardly available anymore due to its displacement by modern synthetic fibres such as polyester! The fibres are resistant against molds and insects and moisture. Read more on Kapok on Wikipedia.
