Jumping fruits of wild oat (Avena fatua)

Grass hopper: wild oat or oatgrass (Avena fatua) florets (groups of dried flowers/fruits carrying the seeds inside) walk, skip and drill into the earth when wetted by rain.

Each long awn is an extension of the main vein of a modified leaf (the lemma) which surrounds and protects each flower and developing fruit. As the awn initially grows and develops on the plant, it dries out and twists around its own axis. When the entire floret or a single fruit eventually falls off the plant, the awn absorbs the humidity from the soil or rainwater, causing the awn to unwind, which pushes the floret like a propellor. The base of the lemma is covered in a beard of stiff, backwards pointing hairs, meaning that the floret is free to move forwards but not backwards, and the unwinding of the awn, and even jiggling from the wind, push and turn the floret which tends (in an blind and fumbling way) to move forwards. It cannot move far; the movement is probably most important for anchoring the floret amongst vegetation or in the soil, where the seeds can remain viable for years. The hairs can also help the floret to be dispersed on the fur of animals and the species is typically spread over long distances during commercial transport of the grain of cereal crops.

Originally from the western Mediterranean, in most of Europe and Asia the species is considered an archeophyte (i.e. not native but introduced at some point during antiquity) and in many parts of the world it is an invasive species associated with grain crops.

Sowing wild oats is great fun! [sorry, I couldn't resist that!]

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