Time to Spread: the Dispersal of Seeds

The methods employed by plants when spreading their seeds, each one of which is most effective, vary with the structure of the seeds of each plant. For example, seeds which are small and light enough to fly on a very slight breeze, immediately fall off when stirred by the wind and are fertilised without any difficulty. It is enough for some plants to reproduce for their seeds simply to fall to the ground. Others disperse their seeds by a natural catapult method, in other words, they fire their seeds off. This is brought about by the release of the tension which forms when the seed is growing inside its coat. The seed coats of some plants split open after drying in the sun, and others open and disperse their contents when affected by such external factors as the wind or animals.

The picture at the top left shows seeds flying out of the poplar tree.In the other pictures, plants' fruits open and split when they are ripe and thus reveal their seeds with their silky hairs. These silky hairs have been specially designed to move easily in the air.

Plants Which Disperse Their Seeds by Bursting
The Mediterranean Squirting Cucumber

When we examine the methods employed in the dispersal process, which is exceedingly important to the reproduction of plants, we see that they are built upon the most sensitive of balances. For instance, some plants, such as the Mediterranean squirting cucumber, use their own power to spread their seeds. As Mediterranean squirting cucumbers begin to ripen, they begin to fill with a slimy juice. Some time later the pressure exerted by this liquid builds up to such an extent that the outer skin of the cucumber cannot resist it and bursts off its stalk. When this happens, the cucumber sprays the liquid inside it like the trail of a rocket being fired into the air. Behind the cucumber comes a trail of slime and with it, seeds.21
The mechanisms here are very sensitive; the seed-pods fill with liquid when the cucumber begins to fully mature, and the explosion takes place at the time when maturation is complete. If this system began to work prematurely, the cucumber's bursting off its stalk before the seeds were formed would serve no purpose. Such an eventuality would mean the end of that species of plant. But no such risk presents itself, thanks to its pre-planned perfect timing. The claim that these mechanisms, which have each had to be present right from the start, evolved as the result of a period of change lasting hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years, is certainly not founded on intelligence, logic, or science.
The seed-pods, the liquid inside them, the seeds, the maturing of the seeds-everything must come into existence at the same time. The uninterrupted perpetuation of such a system, which has functioned perfectly right up until today, shows that it emerged at the very outset in a complete and flawless form. In other words, it was created by one Creator.

The Broom and the Hura Tree

The reproduction of the broom again takes place with the self-opening method, but in a manner exactly opposite to that of the Mediterranean squirting cucumber. The bursting of the seeds of the broom happens not with an increase of liquid, but with its evaporation. As a pod warms on a summer's day, the side facing the sun dries faster than that in the shade. The pod splits suddenly into two halves as a result of the difference in pressure between the two sides, and in this way the tiny black seeds inside are dispersed in all directions.
One of the most successful plants which disperses its seeds by bursting is the Brazilian tree known as the "Hura." When the tree dries out and the time comes to disperse its seeds, it can hurl them up to a distance of some 12 metres. This is a considerable distance for a tree.22

Helicopter Seeds

European maples and sycamores have a very interesting design. These seeds are equipped with only a single wing which sprout from just one side. The weight of the seed and the length of the wing are so well balanced that these seeds also spin. Sycamores often grow in relatively isolated locations, and there the wind can give the seeds considerable assistance. Spinning around themselves, helicopter seeds can travel great distances in even a slight breeze.23
The seeds inside the pods of Bertholletia trees, which grow in South America, stay where they are for a while after falling to the ground. The reason for this is that they have no properties to attract animals' attention. They have no smell, for instance, their exteriors are not striking to look at, and furthermore they are very difficult to break. For this tree to reproduce, the pods, containing the nuts, have to be taken out of the shells and buried underground.
But none of these negative properties are a problem for the Bertholletia, because there is a creature sharing the same environment with it that can overcome all these shortcomings.
The agouti, a rodent which lives in South America, knows that there is food for it under this thick, odourless shell. Thanks to the agouti's chisel-sharp front teeth, it can easily cut through the tough pod shell to get to the seed. There are about 20 nuts inside each shell. And this is more than the agouti can eat at one go. The agouti therefore stuffs the nuts in its cheek pouches and covers them up after burying them in little holes it digs. Although it carries out this process in order to find and eat the nuts later, fortunately, the agouti does not have a perfect memory and the majority of the seeds are forgotten and left to germinate into a new tree about a year later.24 This harmony is not, of course, one which arose by chance. These living things did not discover one another by chance. These living things were created. This complementarity, of which there are countless examples in nature, is the product of a superior wisdom. God, the Possessor of this superior wisdom, creates both living things with all these characteristics and their symbiotic connection.

Seeds Which Can Withstand All Conditions

As a rule, reproductive cells in living things die shortly after leaving their own natural environments. But this does not apply to plants. Both plant pollen and seeds can remain alive miles away from the parent plant. And furthermore, it is not important how much time passes after leaving the parent plant. There are seeds which remain viable after years, or even hundreds of years.

If the seeds of the lupine sense that it is not warm enough for them, they can wait under the soil for years without sprouting.

The lupine, found in the arctic tundra, is a fine example of plant seeds being able to survive for long periods. The seeds of the plant feel the need for the warm weather of certain times of the year in order to germinate. When they feel that the heat is insufficient, even if all the other conditions are met, the seeds do not burst, but wait in the frozen soil for the temperature to rise. When the perfect environment is attained, they start to grow and finally germinate, taking no account of the length of time that has passed since they left the parent plant. Seeds have even been found in the fissures between rocks that have lasted out for hundreds of years without sprouting or spoiling.
This is a most interesting situation. What does it mean for a plant to be aware of its external environment? Since the plant will not be able to manage this by itself, let us consider what other possibilities there might be. A mechanism inside the plant might inform it of the situation. The plant may then suddenly arrest its development, as if an order had been given. But in that case how did such a system develop? Did the plant devise this system by thinking about it for itself? How did it produce the technical necessities within itself?
Of course the plant did not construct this system itself. All this information is always in the plant seed, hidden in the genetic code, right from when the plant first emerged. The lupine in any case possesses a system which can arrest its development when it comes across cold weather. It is impossible for such a structure to come about on its own. No matter how long the imaginary formation time which evolutionists call the "evolutionary period," and whatever coincidences take place during it, the formation of such a system which informs plants about the weather situation is completely impossible.
In the same way, seeds of Mimosa Glomerata were kept in dry storage in a herbarium, and germinated at once when soaked in water. Another example of a plant with highly resistant seeds is the Albizia Julibrissin. Its seeds, kept in London's British Museum herbarium, germinated after no less than 147 years, when became soaked during efforts to put out a fire in the building during the Second World War.25
Because air temperatures are low in tundra regions, spoiling takes place slowly. So much so that some seeds, taken from inside 10,000 year-old glaciers, can return to life when taken to laboratories and given the necessary amounts of heat and moisture.26
As we all know, the substance of the seed contains a certain quantity of nutrition with an outer shell reminiscent of wood. The idea that it could have a thermometer inside it, that it could have any way of exchanging information with the outside world, and that it could have the ability to decide on its actions, on the basis of the information it receives as a result of its own capacities must be described as illogical, or even "irrational." We are faced with an extraordinary substance, which looks like a small piece of wood from the outside, with no link between the enclosed place it is in and the outside world, yet which can measure air temperatures and in later stages decide whether the heat is sufficient for development. A piece of wood which possesses such perfect mechanisms as to realise that unfavourable conditions will later damage its development after germinating, which knows what it has to do to arrest its development the moment it senses such unfavourable conditions, and to continue its development from where it left off when temperatures rise to the necessary level.
This extraordinary mechanism in seeds with this resistant structure cannot be explained by means of chance as the evolutionists claim. In fact, seeds were designed, or in other words created, in such a way as to resist difficult conditions.
Without doubt God, the Lord of all the worlds, shows us evidence of His creation and His own existence even in these little seeds.

It is He Who sends down water from the sky. Thus We bring forth plants of every type with it; We produce green vegetation from it. We produce close-growing grain from it and the palm trees laden with clusters of dates close at hand produced from pollen, as well as orchards full of grapes, olives and pomegranates, which are so similar and yet dissimilar. Look at their fruit as He causes it to grow and ripen. In that there are signs for people who believe. (Surat al-An'am: 99)

Seeds Which can Stay in Water for 80 Days

Sea beans, like coconuts, let the sea carry their seeds.

Alongside seeds which can resist cold weather conditions, others possess structures which allow them to stay in water for a long time. There are even seeds which can remain in water for as long as 80 days without germinating or spoiling. The most famous of these is the coconut. For the coconut seed to be transported in safety, it is placed within a very hard shell. Everything needed for a long journey, a supply of rich food and a half-a-pint or so of water, is ready inside it. On the outside, it is fitted with a fibre float that keeps it on the surface of the water.
The sea bean is another plant which sends its seeds by water. Its seeds are not as large as coconuts, and even after a year at sea, it can still be viable.27

As soon as coconut palm seeds realize they have reached land after their long journey on the water, they begin to germinate. These seeds were created to be especially resistant to water.

As seen from these two examples, the most important property of plants which multiply by using water as a vehicle is that the seeds germinate only when they reach dry land. Actually, this is a most interesting and exceptional situation, because as we know, plant seeds usually begin to germinate as soon as they come into contact with water. But this does not apply to these particular plants. Because of the particular structure of their seeds, plants which disperse their seeds by water do not abide by this rule. If these plants began to germinate as soon as they came into contact with water, as other plants do, they would long since have died out. Whereas these plants are able to survive by reason of general mechanisms suited to the conditions in which they live.
All plants in the world possess the structures best suited to them. These exceptional features bring to mind the question: "How is it that such resistance should have come about in just those species of plants which need it?" Let us take an example-the coconut is the answer to this question:
1. Palm seeds will need a resistant structure in order to be able to spend a long time in water, and for this reason their shells are quite hard. The shells also have water-resistant properties.
This is not a coincidence!
2. They will need more nourishment than normal on their long journeys, and the exact quantity of food necessary is placed inside the coconut seed-package.
This too is not the work of coincidence!
3. They open the moment they "know" they have arrived on dry land.
There is no way this is a coincidence!
As we have seen, these seeds, with their hard shells, their nutrition stores, their sizes, and in short, all their special features, have been designed to be resistant for long periods when necessary. If this finely calculated structure, the shell thickness of which is exactly measured, and the required store of nutrition had had to come about as the result of coincidences, the seed would have germinated before it reached the land, in other words, it would have died.
Of course, no such thing happens, thanks to the sensitive controls over the germination of these seeds. There is absolutely no doubt that the amount of food and water in the seeds, when they are to come to land, and in short all the precautions taken, could not have come about by means of any intelligence or abilities of the seeds themselves.
All these fine calculations and measurements were flawlessly carried out by God, who created the seeds, who knows all their needs and characteristics, and who possesses infinite knowledge and intelligence.

Everything has its measure with Him. (Surah ar-Ra'd: 8)

As for the earth, We stretched it out and set upon it immovable mountains and made everything grow in due proportion on it. (Surat al-Hijr: 19)

The Ant - A Hired Porter

Some seeds have features which are structurally different from those most widely known. The most surprising facts emerge when one examines them. As an example, let us take a seed which is covered in an oily, edible tissue. This oily tissue, which may look quite ordinary at first sight, is actually a most important detail for the survival of that plant species. For that is why ants show an interest in that particular plant. The multiplication of these plants takes place by means of ants, unlike most plant species. The plant, which is unable to place its seeds under the ground by itself, has chosen to do so by having ants carry them. The oily tissue around the seeds is a most attractive food for ants, which eagerly gather the seeds up and carry them to their nests, where they bury them underground.

The seeds in this picture need ants to germinate. The ants' job is first to carry the seed underground, then eat the external casing. As we see, God has created a harmony between the way the ants feed and the way the plants reproduce.

It might be thought that the seeds' being food is the reason why the ants make such a great effort, but that would be wrong. Despite all the effort the ants make to carry the seeds to their nests, they eat only the external casing, and leave the fleshy inside part. In this way, the ants obtain something to eat, and that part of the seed which carries out the reproduction of the plant is left buried in the soil.28 It would be scientifically completely unrealistic to claim that ants do all this knowingly, or that the plant arranged its seed to have certain features that would appeal to a particular species of ant, or planned to live in the same environment as them.
There can be no argument that the consciousness which organized this flawless reciprocity belongs neither to the plant, nor to the ant. It belongs to a Creator, who knows all the properties of these two living things, and made them for one another. In other words, it is God, their Creator, who gave them that consciousness.

Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. (Surat ar-Rum: 26)