Hello, my name is Nidge.
And today on Imagine This... We're on a bushwalk.
I love bushwalking.
Me too.
I like there's just nature, plants, trees, mountaintops.
I can hear kookaburras.
Look at all these flowers.
Where'd they come from?
Flowers come from seeds.
We had a question about seeds.
My name is Cooper and I'm six years old.
I want to know how are seeds made?
Seeds come from trees.
They're on the trees.
So where do the trees and flowers come from?
Don't they need a seed to start off with?
I think it's pretty complicated.
Yeah.
Hey, look, it's Professor Angela Moles.
She's an ecologist.
That's a scientist who studies the connections between living things and their environments.
Angela knows a lot about plants.
I reckon she can help us.
Come on, let's catch up to her.
Hi, Professor.
Hi, Professor.
Hello.
Hi, Nidge.
Hi, kids.
Are you bushwalking too?
Yeah, I just stopped for a snack, actually.
Do you want to join me?
Oh, yeah, thanks.
I'm so hungry.
And this question is tricky.
I think I need some brain food.
Oh, yum, hummus and rice crackers.
I'm a bread and roll.
Mmm, delish.
So, what's your question?
We want to know how are seeds made?
Ah, yes.
I can definitely help you with that.
We think it has something to do with flowers?
Yes.
Seeds can definitely come from flowers.
Or they might come from cones that some trees make instead of flowers, like pine cones.
I didn't know there were seeds in pine cones.
Seeds can come from different kinds of grasses too.
If you look around, you can see seeds everywhere.
Really?
Where?
Well, for starters, in all your packed lunches.
Hummus is made from chickpeas.
They're seeds.
What?
The wheat that makes bread comes from a seed too.
Really?
And the rice in rice crackers too.
Rice is a seed?
Yes.
Rice is a seed from a type of grass.
So is wheat.
I think I need more brain food for this.
Yeah.
All flowering plants create fruit and this is the key to making seeds.
I feel like there's some imagining that's about to happen.
Yes!
Let's use our imaginations to follow the journey.
We can hitch a ride on one of these dandelions.
Alright everyone, you know what to do.
I love being small outside.
Everything's so big.
Yeah, the flowers look huge, like buildings.
Look, the floppy dandelions are blowing away.
Quick, grab one!
Hang on tight!
Woohoo!
Plants have some amazing ways to get their seeds out in the world.
This way uses the wind.
Feels like I'm flying like a parachute.
The wind's pushing me.
And I'm flying right now.
The seeds are so light and the tops of the little hairs catch the wind just like an umbrella would.
It's the perfect way to send out lots of seeds in many directions so more dandelions can grow in new places exactly whoa.
Look at all the trees down below us.
There are flowers everywhere.
Oh look, a flowering Kwondong tree.
Let's get off here and we can follow the Kwondong's journey from flower to fruit to seed.
Here we go.
We're on a flower.
It smells great here.
Flowers are beautiful, aren't they?
They look bright and colourful.
They smell great.
They even have sweet nectar.
For the bees.
Exactly.
The way they look and smell and taste are some of the ways flowers get the attention of pollinators.
We've talked about them before.
I think a pollinator is a bee.
Oh, butterfly!
Yes, that's right.
Flowers love birds moths, butterflies and bees, because while they're busy collecting pollen or sipping sweet nectar, they're doing a very important job for the flowers.
Then all the pollen goes away on the pollinator?
Yeah, then it rubs off on another flower.
See this middle part of the flower?
It's usually tall and sticks straight up out of the centre.
It's all sticky!
Yes, it's called the stigma and its job is to catch the pollen from other flowers.
Will it catch pollen from any flower?
No, stigmas are very fussy.
They won't let any old pollen in.
A Kwondong stigma will only want Kwondong pollen.
Oh yeah, so if it's the right flower, then it grows, and grows, and grows and make another seed and boop.
Almost.
Look, a bee's coming in now.
It's got pollen on its legs.
Oh, I see.
The pollen is rubbing off the bee and sticking on the stigma.
Once the right pollen grain lands on it, the flower will let the pollen attach to the stigma.
Look, it's happening now.
That must have been the right kind of Kwondong pollen.
Where does the pollen go?
We'll have to get even smaller for this next part.
As small as a speck of pollen.
We're so small now we can fit on a stigma with a single grain of pollen.
What's that noise?
That's the pollen grain.
It's getting bigger.
It's actually growing a shoot to reach into the flower.
Whoa, look at it grow.
It's really long.
How can one little pollen grain grow such a long shoot?
The flower is helping it.
It's giving the pollen energy to grow really long.
Come on, let's follow it down.
Wow!
Cool!
We're inside the flower!
The pollen will mix with a teeny, tiny egg that lives inside the flower, and this will become the seed for a new baby plant to grow from one day.
Whoa!
What's happening?
Lots of changes.
Once the egg in the flower is fertilized, the petals will fall away.
The flower just needed those to get the pollinator's attention.
Now the bud of the flower, the part the petals grow from.
This will grow bigger and bigger and eventually become the fruit of the plant.
In this case, a Kwondong berry.
Wait a second, fruit comes from flowers?
Yes, all fruit comes from pollinated flowers.
We tend to think of the fruits as just the sweet ones, like cherries or oranges or mangoes, but lots of vegetables are actually fruits.
Like tomatoes?
Yes, exactly.
All the veggies with seeds are fruit that come from flowers.
Capsicum, zucchini.
Pumpkin?
Eggplants.
Cucumber?
Corn?
You got it.
That is pretty weird.
I think that I'm basically eating a flower.
Just like a plant uses beautiful flowers and sweet nectar to bring in pollinating bees and butterflies, plants use fruits to spread their seeds.
They say to the world, come and get me and take my seeds with you.
Look, ants are coming.
They're taking all the berries.
Oi, come back here.
They're not yours, are they?
The tree wants them to take the fruit.
Insects are great at getting seeds out into the world.
They'll eat the fruit from trees and sometimes even plant the seeds in the ground.
Is that an emu?
Yep.
Emus are fantastic seed spreaders.
They eat lots of fruit and travel long distances, pooping out the seeds wherever they go, giving them some nice manure to grow in as a bonus.
Are we about to get eaten?
Oh no!
I really don't want to get pooed out.
No, let's skip that part.
Phew.
Now we know how seeds are made and how they get out in the world, let's move along to the next step.
What's that?
Germination.
Oh, it's nice here.
All dark and cosy.
Where are we?
We're little seeds on the forest floor.
We might have gotten here by wind carrying us.
Like a dandelion.
Or getting pooed out by an emu.
Or carried along by water, like rivers and heavy rain.
Plants have lots of amazing ways to get their seeds out in the world.
But a parent plant won't let their baby seeds go without everything they need to get started in their new homes.
What do you mean?
Inside every seed is like a little packed lunch.
It'll have enough nutrients and energy inside it to germinate, to grow into a little plant.
But Angela, nothing's happening.
Why aren't we germinating?
Seeds are very clever.
They will only germinate and grow into a plant when their conditions are just right.
Some seeds in Australia need fire to germinate.
Oh, that's me.
I'm a fire seed.
Well, you fire seeds have a very hard shell and it has to be very, very hot to make it crack open.
Some seeds need lots of water.
Not just a bit of rain, but a really good soaking.
I love the rain.
I'm going to be that kind.
In cold areas, some clever seeds can see light and have little clocks in them that tell them winter has ended and it's time to germinate for spring.
I'm a clever clock seed.
Seeds can be very patient too.
They can wait for hundreds of years for the right conditions and then, all of a sudden, I'm growing.
And I'm poking through the ground!
They sprout!
Whoa!
Here we go!
My roots are going down into the ground.
That feels good to stretch out.
And I'm poking out of the soil!
I can see the sun.
How do these little seeds do it?
It's that packed lunch the parent plant made so the baby plant can get started in life.
That energy is what makes seeds so good for us when we need a snack.
Ah, that's why hummus is so tasty.
So then, once our plant has grown big enough, it'll make beautiful flowers that will turn into fruit and inside the fruit will be seeds for a new baby plant, and then it will all start over.
Yep, come on, let's get back to our human bodies before we finish our bushwalk.
Oh, we're back.
Having roots was cool, but gee, i'm glad to see my feet again.
Shall we head back down the track Now?
I really can see seeds everywhere.
Right?
Wow, seeds are such special little things.
How do we help the seeds?
Well, one of the biggest problems we have is people clearing land and getting rid of plants to build houses.
So the best thing we can do to help is to plant some plants.
Plant them everywhere you can, on the balcony or the nature strip.
It's helping the environment, it'll attract animals and just seeing the green makes us feel better.
Could i even plant a chickpea?
Love hummus, uh-huh.
Mandarin seed yeah, uh.
Plum seed that too.
Avocado yes, definitely.
Pumpkin, cucumber.
So Cooper seeds are found inside fruits that are made after a flower is pollinated.
By bees, moths, ants or birds.
When just the right pollen grain from one flower lands on another flower.
On the stigma.
It will grow a shoot to connect with a tiny egg inside the flower.
And a seed begins to form.
The petals fall off the flower.
And the bud of the flower grows into a fruit.
A cherry or a kitchen bud.
Inside the fruit is the baby seed, ready with everything it needs to grow into a new plant.
A packed lunch full of energy.
The seed can travel a long way in the belly of an emu or by water or wind and wait a long time, hundreds of years.
It might take a fire or heavy rain or the light at the end of winter, but when it's ready the seed will open, put down roots, reach up towards the sunlight and grow into a new plant ready to make more seeds for another day.
Imagine This is an ABC Kids Listen podcast, hosted by me, Dr Neeraj Lal.
A big thanks to our guest, Professor Angela Moles, and to all the kids who helped make the podcast.
Today's episode was written and produced by Sumiya Bella, with sound design by Wayne Ewan, and was made on Gadigal and Wurundjeri Woiwurrung lands.
Our senior producer is Emma Gibbs.
For more podcasts to play, music to move and stories and soundtracks for sleep.
Download the ABC Kids Listen app free from your app store.
