INTO THE WILD:

Seeds

Fall is the time of the harvest. In conservation circles, that means one thing — seeds. Just when a lot of folks seem to be turning their backs on the browning prairie, those who collect seeds know that things are just getting interesting.

Compiled by Gary Mechanic

Sunrise at Goose Lake Prairie.

Photo: Bill Glass

The Nature of a Seed

A seed is the fertilized ovule, or egg part, of a plant. Most of our local plants are angiosperms, flowering plants that protect and nourish their seeds with the flesh of the ripened ovary.

Seeds' Ticket to Ride

To us mobile mammals, plants look like such sticks in the mud. But to plants, humans might look unimaginative and limited in the way we get around. Light seeds such as prairie smoke, liatris, and New England aster parachute on the wind. Phlox, violets, geranium, and jewelweed eject their seeds in mini-explosions. Porcupine grass and tick trefoil hitchhike on passing furbearing and pants-wearing mammals using Velcro-like barbs. Flowering plants with heavier seeds offer a free, juicy fruit snack to animals, in exchange for a ride through their digestive system and to destinations sometimes many miles away.

Seeds in Time

Seeds can allow a new generation to suspend growth for better dispersal or to survive harsh conditions. The oldest known seed was a Judean date palm seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from Herod the Great's palace in Israel. Botanists germinated it into a viable plant in 2005. Locally, wetland plants have grown from seedbanks ecologists believe to be at least 100 years old.

How and When to Collect Seeds

Our native plants create seed throughout the growing season. Woodland ephemerals set seed in spring, which can be tricky to collect since there's often not much. Seeds of the prairie mature all summer long, culminating with heavy, full seedheads in fall. Watch for seeds in the weeks after a plant's flowers begin to fade away. Stewards will often instruct volunteers to leave a certain percentage of seeds on each plant they visit so the plant can still propagate where it's growing.

Grow a Victory Garden

Anyone with a little square-footage of soil can become a seed-growing machine for prairie and woodland restoration. The Wild Garden Program distributes native plants collected by conservationists in wild habitats to participants in the northern suburbs to grow in their garden. Year after year, gardeners collect the seed for use in restorations, assuring our plants' genetic heritage gets passed down. Interested? E-mail publications@northbranchrestoration.org.

When Not to Collect

It's illegal to collect seeds without the consent of the landowner, but it's legal (and fun!) to do it with an approved restoration group.

Photos from top: Mountain mint, Carol Freeman; Blue jay with acorn, Joe Nowak; Smooth Solomon's seal, Gerald D. Tang; Jack-in-the-pulpit berries, Gerald D. Tang.

Prairie Preparation

Every fall, volunteers gather for seed collecting workdays, which are social events. "You can move at a leisurely pace while collecting and there's time to talk," says one steward. Later, they clean the fragrant seeds while trading stories. Some seed workdays coming up this fall:

Beaubien Woods, Oct. 7, (312) 665-7443

West Chicago Prairie, Sept. 30, forbs and grasses, (630) 961-2041

Wolf Road Prairie, Sept. 30, at the Prairie House, savetheprairiesociety.org