Dispersal of Seeds

A plant usually bears many fruits and innumerable seeds. If all the seeds produced by a plant were to germinate in the immediate vicinity, this will have several disadvantages. The resulting seedlings would compete intensely among themselves for space, light, water and minerals. They will be more vulnerable to attack by pests and pathogens.

Moreover, there will be greater chances for backcrossing, in the resulting progeny, rendering them genetically inferior. To overcome these problems most plants have evolved one or another mechanism for dispersal of seeds over a wide area. Fruits of some plants have built-in mechanism for dispersing their seeds to considerable distances (autochory). Other plants depend on external agencies such as air (anemochory), water (hydrochory) and animals (Zoochory) to disseminate their fruits or seeds.