seed: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Oct. 15, 2026

Photos and Videos

Cluster of bright red seeds emerging from the cone-shaped fruit of a magnolia grandiflora, surrounded by large, glossy green leaves.

Castor bean seeds

Close-up of a toucan with a large yellow and black bill holding a piece of fruit or nut in its beak, Amazon, Brazil.

Javan cucumber seed

silver maple fruits

Mangrove propagule

How different plants store their seeds

See the turning of grass to seed

Watch cress seeds absorb water to catalyze the metabolic activity involved in germination

Behold the germination of three pea seeds and observe how root growth is determined by gravity

Compare monocotyledons' embryonic endosperm to dicotyledons' prephotosynthesis food storage system

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Topics

hilum micropyle oilseed testa caruncle seed dormancy elaiosome seed dispersal soil seed bank The Arctic’s Seed-Filled Doomsday Fortress fruit plant development germination annual Alternation of generations perennial biennial

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Key People

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W. Atlee Burpee

American seedsman