The seed that waited

Hold out your hand. Imagine there is a seed in it. Small, brown and hard. It looks like nothing much. It does not move. It does not grow. It just sits there.

But inside that seed is a secret. A baby plant, curled up, fast asleep. And a little packed lunch of food, to help it grow when it wakes up.

What does a seed need to wake up? Water. Warmth. Air. Put it in the soil, give it a drink, and wait.

First, the seed swells up as it drinks. Then its coat splits open. A tiny root pokes out and pushes down into the dark soil, looking for water. Then a little green shoot pushes up, towards the light.

Up and up it grows. Leaves unfold. The plant starts making its own food from sunlight, air and water. One day, it might become a sunflower taller than your dad. Or it might become a mighty oak tree that lives for hundreds of years. Every oak tree in the world started as an acorn.

Seeds are very good travellers. Dandelion seeds have little parachutes and float away on the wind. Sycamore seeds spin like helicopters. Some seeds have hooks that stick to animals’ fur, or to your socks. Coconuts can float across the sea.

Some seeds can wait a very long time. In the desert near the Dead Sea, archaeologists found some date palm seeds in the ruins of an old fortress. They were about two thousand years old. In 2005, scientists planted one. And guess what? It grew. They named the young date palm Methuselah, after the oldest man in the Bible.

People have been planting seeds for more than ten thousand years. Wheat, rice, barley and maize all start as seeds. So does the bread in your sandwich, and the porridge in your bowl.

Muslims read in the Qur’an that God splits open the grain and the date stone, bringing out life. It also says that a good word is like a good tree. Its roots are firm and its branches reach the sky. It gives fruit in every season.

The Prophet Muhammad taught that planting is a kind of gift. If you plant a tree and a bird or a person eats from it, that is your kindness.

Jewish families have a New Year for Trees, called Tu Bishvat. Many plant trees that day, or share a plate of fruits and nuts.

Jesus (peace be upon him) told a story about a mustard seed, one of the tiniest seeds of all. When it grows, he said, it becomes so big that birds come and make nests in its branches.

Seeds teach us something. Small things can grow into big things. Something that looks like nothing much can be full of life inside. And sometimes the best things need time, water, warmth and patience.

What will you plant?

Watch together

▶How Does A Seed Become A Plant? | Backyard Science | SciShow Kids · SciShow Kids

How a seed becomes a plant, step by step, for young viewers.

▶How do seeds get around?! (in MACRO!) | Maddie Moate · Maddie Moate

Maddie Moate looks at how seeds travel, filmed in close-up.

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