How Do Violets Spread Their Seeds?

Violets are beautiful spring-blooming flowers that can often be found growing wild in lawns and fields But have you ever wondered how these pretty little flowers are able to spread their seeds and propagate? Violets have developed some clever evolutionary tricks to ensure their seeds get dispersed far and wide

Violet Seed Structure

Violet seeds form inside green seed pods that hang down close to the ground after the flower has been pollinated. Inside each plump violet seed pod are around 20-50 tiny brown seeds.

The seeds have a special feature – they each have a tiny attachment called an elaiosome. The elaiosome is a type of oil-rich appendage that contains fatty acids, amino acids and sugars. This nutrient-packed treat on each violet seed plays an important role in seed dispersal, as we’ll see.

Ants Disperse Violet Seeds

Ants are one of the main agents of dispersal for violet seeds. The ants are attracted to the elaiosomes attached to the seeds. When the seed pods split open, ants will carry the seeds back to their nests and feed the nutritious elaiosomes to their larvae.

But the ants don’t actually eat or damage the seed itself. After feeding off the elaiosome, the ants will discard the seed intact. This results in the seeds ending up in the ants’ waste piles, safely away from the original parent plant.

Studies have shown that ants can move violet seeds up to 180 feet away – much farther than if the seeds had just dropped passively!

Other Dispersal Methods

Ants are the main method of dispersal, but violets have some backup plans too. If ants don’t find the seeds, the pods will eventually burst and scatter seeds up to several feet away. This is better than just dropping straight down at the base of the parent plant.

Slug slime trails have also been observed as a dispersal agent. Slugs will eat the elaiosome and leave the seed behind alive to germinate.

Finally, some seeds manage to get swept away by wind or water. However, the majority – up to 90% – get picked up by ants or slugs if given the chance.

Why Dispersal Matters

Seed dispersal is extremely important for plants like violets for several reasons:

• It reduces competition between offspring and parent plants for sunlight, water, and nutrients.

• It allows plants to colonize new areas and spread geographically.

• It reduces predation by spacing seeds away from parental plants.

So while the violet’s seductive seeds seem cleverly designed to appeal to ants, the interaction benefits both species. The ants get a nutritious meal for their larvae, and the violets get their seeds safely transported away from the parent. This fascinating partnership is just one of many ingenious methods plants have evolved for spreading their seeds far and wide.

Frequency of Entities:
viola seeds: 7
elaiosome: 3
seed pod: 2
fatty acids: 1
amino acids: 1
sugars: 1
ants: 5
slugs: 2
wind: 1
water: 1
dispersal: 5