Monday 28 July 2014

Cranesbill Seed Heads

A pretty cranesbill has seeded itself into the garden. It gets its name from the seed head which does indeed look like a bird's head with a long bill. However, I noticed that one or two  of the seed heads had split apart from the tip so that they looked like miniature candelabra.  There are five seeds arranged around the bottom of the fruit, each inside a tiny capsule connected by a thin filament that eventually dries out detaching from the fruit and springing upwards catapulting the seeds around the garden.
 First the flower, then the cranes bill and then the candelabra.
The seed head once it had split apart, catapulting the seed out of each tiny capsule.

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