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Hamamelidaceae

15-Mature fruits

[FMP-field: image]

Loculicidally dehiscent capsules; note the black seeds, one in each locule, and the attachment scar at the top of each seed. This is Hamamelis vernalis.

After the fruit opens exposing the two seeds, the inner walls of the fruit contract and the shiny black seeds are shot out some distance from the parent plant, much as fresh apple seeds can be shot between the finger and thumb. This is "ballistic" dispersal.

[ Can you see a face in this photo? The seeds are the eyes, the upper valves of the capsule are the ears, and a small remaining piece of a sepal forms a tongue].


Taken by K. R. Robertson at Champaign, Illinois.

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