In this article we will continue our discussion of the geometry of plants, focusing now on the geometry of plant seeds. In the next article we will discuss pollen, and then, roots, leaves, flowers and fruit.
Once again, we will find that the golden ratio, fractal branching and the Fibonacci sequence play important roles in the structure of these plant components.
We will also see clear evidence of the Platonic solids in pollen and seed structure.
Geometry of Plant Seeds
“Asleep within the seed the power lies,
Foreshadowed pattern, folded in the shell,
Root, leaf, and germ, pale and half-formed.
The nub of tranquil life, kept safe and dry.” ~ Goethe
“The intricacy of the exquisite natural forms [of seeds], often expressed at a microscopic scale highlights the extraordinary creativity of Nature, and at the same time it is a reminder of how little we truly understand about the structure, biology and ecology of even the most common plants.”1
Credit: Rob Kesseler from Seeds: Time Capsules of Life. This book is highly recommended to get close-up visuals of the geometry of seeds.
“Seeds are the beginning and end of the life cycle of plants, carriers of the genetic codes that will ensure successful propagation and continuation of the species. Their resilience is renowned: seeds taken from dried herbarium samples have been successfully germinated over two hundred years after they were collected. Their diversity of form and scale is as extensive as the plants from which they derive, from the giant coco de mer weighing up to twenty kilos to the almost dust-like seeds of the orchid family where one gram can contain more than 2 million seeds.”2
97% of all land plants on Earth today are seed plants (spermatophytes).
Seeds have two principal functions:
- reproduction
- dispersal
A seed consists of three basic components:
- embryo – the offspring in the form of a small plant
- endosperm – energy-rich nutritive tissue surrounding the embryo
- seed coat – protective layer around the outside
Cotyledons are seed leaves (seen below).
Gymnosperms can have between 1 and 10 cotyledons.
Angiosperms can have either 1 (Monocots) or 2 cotyledons (Dicots).
A generalized dicot seed (1) and a generalized monocot seed (2). The five major parts of a dicot seed: A. Seed coat: the seed coat protects the embryo. B. Cotyledon: the cotyledon stores food; there are two cotyledons in dicot seeds. C. Hilum: the hilum is the point of attachment to its seed vessel. D. Plumule: the plumule is the shoot of the seed where the leaves will first appear. E. Radicle: the radicle is the root of the seed.
Five major parts of a monocot seed: A. Seed coat: the seed coat protects the seed. B. Cotyledon: the cotyledon is the leaf of the seed; there is only one cotyledon in monocot seeds. D. Plumule: the plumule of the monocot seed is the shoot of the seed. E. Radicle: the radicle of the seed is the root of the seed. F. Endosperm: the endosperm is the food supply for the seed; the dicot seeds contain endosperms in some of the mature seeds.
To review Angiosperms are flowering plants. They have seeds enclosed within an ovary, usually a fruit. There are between 250,000 and 400,000 extant species.
Gymnosperms have no flowers or fruits and have naked or unenclosed seeds on the surface of scales or leaves. Gymnosperm seeds are often configured as cones. There are around 1000 extant species.
Twelve Seed Types: Alexander C. Martin
Credit: Seeds: Time Capsules of Life – page 68
- Peripheral Division
- Basal, Capitate, Lateral, Peripheral
- Axial Division
- linear, dwarf, micro, spatulate, bent, folded investing
- Rudimentary
“Seeds are composed of the tissues of three different generations; this is true of both gymnosperms and angiosperms. Generation one is the tough protective seed coat. Generation two is the nutritive tissue…The third generation is the diploid embryo, which combines the genetic material of two different individuals, the mother sporophyte (providing the egg cells) and father sporophyte (providing the pollen). This sophisticated combination of three genetically different generations of tissue in a single organ renders the seed the most complex structure produced by a seed plant.”3
However, there are exceptions. “There are more than 400 species in over forty angiosperm families which are able to produce seeds asexually, by a process called apomixis.”4
The Geometry of Seeds: The Sphere & Vesica Piscis
“In an archetypal sense we can suggest that the sphere is the shape of perfection. As the sphere becomes a moving form it changes into an egg-like shape with more than a single center. Seed forms usually include both sphere and lineation and vary as much as flowers’ forms (from the spherical pea to the elongated bean). Seeds unfold in a geometrical series taking possession of space until they recover their spherical form in fruit like the apple, peach or plum.”5
To the naked eye these seeds may look smooth and spherical, but upon closer examination, very few actually are. Many have a hexagonal cellular structure or detailed sculpturing.
In any case, spherical or nearly spherical seeds include:
Mustard
Magnified mustard seeds on right by Quinn Dombrowski
Peas
Spiraling tendrils of a pea plant & peas in pea pod
Allspice
Pomegranate
Note the hexagonal cellular packing of the seeds (Delauney Triangulation & Voronoi Tessellations)
Poppy
Opium poppy with seeds & common poppy seeds used for baking
Millet
Spiral packing of millet seeds at left. Vortex street configuration of seed bundles at right.
Sorghum
Amaranth
Globe amaranth; Foxtail amaranth & amaranth seeds. Note the spiral structure of the amaranth flowers.
Chia
Quinoa
Quinoa plant and seeds. Note the spiraling structure of the magnified quinoa grains.
Couscous
Lentils
Okra
Beautiful pentagonal geometry of okra produces spherical seeds.
Bell peppers
Spinach
Coconut
Avocado
The ovoid fruit produces spherical/ovoid seeds. The avocado pit is soft, much like a walnut.
The Vesica Piscis is the ‘womb of creation’. It is not surprising then, that many seeds are shaped as vesicas.
The Vesica Piscis is the blue overlapping area between two circles of equal area.
Within each tiny seed is the potential to create an entirely new plant, often of gigantic and complex proportions. As a plant grows it contains many geometries that affect their different parts such as leaves, roots, stems, branches, petals, and so forth.
Within the Vesica (the Dyad) exists all geometry. The Vesica is the womb of creation. The seed contains All.
The Vesica shape is prevalent in seed forms. Often, of course, one end of the seed may be more rounded than the other.
Seeds shaped like the Vesica Piscis include:
Orange/Lemon/Lime
Kiwi
Note the hexagonal sculpturing in the magnified seeds.
Cucumber
Tomato
Apple
Vesica-shaped seeds within pentagonal geometry.
Sesame
Sunflower
The beautiful spirals of the sunflower produce delicious seeds.
Oats
Wheat
Note the vortex street configuration of the wheat on its stalk.
Barley
Another vortex street configuration.
Flax
Rice
Hemp
Cumin
Fennel
Fennel flower (left) & fennel seeds with black peppercorns (right). Note the hexagonal sculpturing of the black peppercorns and the longitudinal grooves of the fennel seeds.
Cardamom
Coriander
Dill
Nutmeg
Fresh nutmeg and dried nutmeg
Almond
The almond is a powerful symbol for the Vesica Piscis.
Pine nut
The beautiful spirals of the pine cone produce delicious nuts. Most pines produce much smaller nuts than those we use for cuisine.
Pistachio
Peanut
Pumpkin
Popcorn kernels
Melon
Horned melon & cantaloupe
Apricot/Peach/Nectarine
Coffee
Coffee cherries & roasted coffee beans
It is very interesting to note that most of the spherical and vesica-shaped seeds are ones that humans traditionally eat and are dependent upon for survival. Below we will see many other diverse forms of seeds. However most of these exotic seeds we do not eat.
The beautiful Fibonacci Dandelion head and geometric packing of seeds
Further Seed Geometry
The Fibonacci sequence and golden spirals are clearly seen in the form of many seed bracts and the hexagonal structure is commonly found in seed cellular structure.
“Although unrelated, families with the dust and balloon seed syndromes display a striking convergence. In many if not most, the single-layered seed coat has a distinct honeycomb pattern with either isodiametic or elongated facets. The honeycomb pattern ensures maximum stability for the structure with minimum thickness and thus minimum weight for its load-carrying parts. This is a universal principle and honeycomb patterns can be observed in both the inanimate and animate world. They appear in the arrangement of carbon atoms in graphite; bees use them to construct their storage container for honey; they are reflected in the surface structure of certain pollen grains.”6
Note the hexagonal structure of the seeds below:
Papaya Seeds
Passionfruit Seeds & Peppercorns
Mustard Seed
Kiwi Seed & Orchid Seeds. Orchid Seeds Credit: Orchid seed diversity: A scanning electron microscopy survey by Wilhelm Barthlott
The following images are taken by Rob Kesseler under the electron scanning microscope. They clearly show a tessellating hexagonal structure based upon Delauney Triangulation & Voronoi Tessellation.
“The same shapes and patterns occur in distantly related groups…the diversity of form and structural complexity of seeds is staggering; that such detail exists on such a minute scale is difficult to comprehend.”7
Opium Poppy Seeds. Note the smaller hexagonal cellular structure within the larger hexagonal structure.
Seeds, Bracts & Pods
Black Elk of the Oglala Lakota Sioux said:
“The growing power is rooted in mystery like the night, and reaches lightward.
Seeds sprout in the darkness of the ground before they know the summer and the day.
In the night of the womb the spirit quickens into flesh.”
Now we will look at various seed structures. Note the Fibonacci spirals and hexagonal honeycomb patterns.
Pinecones
Samuel Colman writes, “The most interesting form of a symmetrical phyllotaxis and perhaps the most beautiful is to be found in the family of the Coniferae. If one is so fortunate as to find himself on a summer’s day in a pine forest with his mind awake, he will soon recognize that other delights besides the beauty of the trees and the aromatic odors are in the air which will appeal to him, for the testimony of the fruit or seed-vessels scattered over the ground discloses numerous points for consideration which will soon absorb the student.”
See pages 97-100 in Nature’s Harmonic Unity to see examples of the spirals that make up Pinus Strobus (white pine) with a 3:5 order; Yellow pine with a 5:8 order; and Oregon Pine with a 8:13 order.
Colman writes, “It may here be noted that among the many interesting things revealed by the pine cone is the fact the seed-vessels, or the shells enclosing them, are related in extreme and mean proportion which occurs in each pair as they diminish in size towards the center, either in length to their width, or length to width of one of the sides.
“The seed-containing scales [of pinecones] grow along the intersections of two sets of helixes – spirals that unfold in three-dimensional space like the DNA molecule. In plan-view, the spiral projections of these helixes resemble miniature galaxies,” writes Gyorgy Doczi
Credit: Gyorgy Doczi – The Power of Limits, 1981
Take a look at Plate 94: Coniferae from Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature.
These include the cones of the:
- Araucaria brasiliana = Araucaria angustifolia, female cone
- Picea excelsa = Picea abies, scale of female cone from inside
- Abies bracteata, female cone
- Chamaecyparis obtusa, branch with female cones
- Thujopsis dolabrata, branch with 12 male and 3 female cones
- Juniperus communis, branch with fruit
- Libocedrus decurrens = Calocedrus decurrens, branch with female cones
- Phyllocladus rhomboidalis = Phyllocladus aspleniifolius, branch with female cones
- Ginkgo biloba, branch with seed
- Sequoya gigantea = Sequoiadendron giganteum, female cone
- Cupressus sempervirens, branch with 7 male and 2 female cones
- Taxodium distichum, female cone
- Pinus serotina, female cone
Cycad cones (Encephalartos spp.)
Pinecone Ginger
Pineapples
Sunflower seed heads
Dandelion heads
Sweetgum seed pods
Poppy seed head
Lotus seed pod
Thistle species: Western thistle (Cirsium occidentale); Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare); Star thistle (Centaurea solstitialis)
Wild teasel
Eucalyptus seed pod
Eucalyptus Lehmannii seed pod
Velvethead seed heads
Coneflower seed head (Echinachea spp.)
Fatsia japonica seed head & berries
Clematis pitcheri seed head
Credit: Bill Dodd
Crepe myrtle seedpods – 6-fold geometric structure
Open seed pod credit: readerwalker
Magnolia seed pod
Melaleuca nesophila – western Australia Showy honey-myrtle, clustered woody seed capsules
Credit: Dick Culbert & James Gaither
Loasa chilensis (Loasaceae) – honeycomb pattern
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Wild cucumber (Marah macrocarpus) spiny seed capsules
Raphia taedigera
Mary’s bean (Merremia discoidesperma) – The bean is held in place inside its papery capsule by a black strap. The connecting strap produces a groove across one side of the seed that intersects with another indentation, forming the distinctive imprint of a cross. Note how this seed looks similar to the Ashmolean Platonic solid cube (pictured below). The cross is divided into a tetrad of four small seeds.
Sea Hearts (Entada gigas) – heart-like shape
Kukui nuts (Aleurites molucanna)
Blue marble tree (Elaeocarpaceae grandis) – blue fruits (drupes) and intricately sculptured endocarps
Monkey Ladder vine (Entada gigas) – “The main stems of monkey ladder may be more than a foot in diameter, often flattened and ribbonlike or spiraling like an Archimedean screw.”8
Credit: Project Noah
Job’s tears (Coix lacryma–jobi) – “the actual beadlike structure resembling a seed is not a seed at all. It is a very hard, hollow structure (involucre) containing a minute fertile female flower and two sterile flowers.”9
Sea purses (Dioclea) – hamburger seeds
Coulter’s snapdragon (Antirrhimun coulterianum) – “The reasons for the bizarre surface sculpturing are unknown.”
Image credit: Rob Kesseler
Purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) – hexagonal tessellations on seeds
Prickly goldenfleece (Urospermum picroides) These look like tiny ridged bananas
Lamourouxia viscosa – “displaying the most extreme form of the typical honeycomb pattern found in wind-dispersed seeds”
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Cat Whiskers (Cleome gyandra) – thick discoid shape and bizarre sculpturing; logarithmic spiral
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Dryopteris filix–mas – fern; sporangium (groups of spore containers) geometry
Turk’s cap (Melocactus zehntneri) – jigsaw puzzle/hexagonal tessellations
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Common Broomrape – dwarf type seed displaying the typical honeycomb pattern of wind-dispersed dust seeds
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) – displaying very sophisticated surface patterns including hexagons and pentagons
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Franklin’s sandwort (Arenaria franklinii) displaying the intricate surface pattern typical of the pink family with the cells of the seed coat interlocked like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Cistus-flowered sundew (Drosera cistiflora) – seed displaying typical honeycomb pattern of wind-dispersed dust seeds. The “freak” cell in the middle repeats the pattern of the seed coat. Pg. 116
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Sun spurge (Euphorbia helioscopia) – pentagonal seed pod (pictured below) & seeds with tessellations within tessellations – page 138 of Seeds: Time Capsules of Life
Devil’s claw – large woody grapples adapted to cling to feet and fur of animals
Scarlet pimpernel fruiting body – pentagonal
Sand Box Tree (Hura crepitans) – 14-fold geometry
Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) – interesting sculpturing; curved, spiral-like – page 210
Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) – cactus pictured below; nice tessellations on seeds – page 219
Corncockle (Agrostemma githago) – fan-like spiral; Nautilus-like w/ intricate jigsaw patterning – 230
Acalypha Virginica (Virginia Mercury wildflower) seeds
Loasa chilensis – Chile – balloon seed with typical honeycomb patterning – 248
Credit: Rob Kesseler
Coco de mer – largest seed; entire fruit may weigh up to 50 pounds – there is a clear twoness to the giant seed
Seed Dispersal
“Unlike animals, plants are rooted in the ground and tied to one place. For most plants, therefore, the seed is the only phase in their life when they are mobile. In most cases it is not advantageous for a seed to germinate in its place of origin. The young seedling would have to compete for light, water and nutrients, not only with its siblings but also with the mother plant. For this reason, fruits and seeds have often developed special adaptations that allow them to travel.”10
We see other types of geometry used in other seed structures built for seed dispersal.
- winged seeds
- seeds with tails
- cones & grains
- seeds also vary in size from tiny to very large
Notice that the structure is always aligned with the function.
For instance, there are four main mechanisms for seed and fruit dispersal.
- Floating in the wind (enormous diversity in types)
- Drifting in ocean or fresh water
- Self-dispersal
- Hitchhiking on animals (insects, birds, small mammals)
Wind Dispersal
Concerning the first mechanism – floating in the wind – there are various types of wind dispersal.
“Wind-dispersed fruits and seeds with wings can be expressed as a single unilateral structure, a pair of opposite blades, a continuous ring surrounding the circumference of the diaspore, or multiple wings.”11
Some smaller seeds have hairs (poplar, willow) and feathers (hoary sunray) to assist wind dispersal.
Others include:
- Gliders – Alsomitra macrocarpa (tropical vine in the Gourd family)
- Parachutes – Western Salsify, Eurasian dandelion, wild artichoke, Brown puffs, Silver puffs, Milkweed family, Kapok, Floss silk tree, Dogbane family, Nerium oleander, sunflower family (Asteraceae), southern star (fruit with a silky cloud of plumed seeds emerging; each seed carries a perfectly symmetrical parachute of stiff hairs at the front end)
Milkweed
- Helicopters (whirlybirds) – Box Elder, Big-Leaf Maple, Maple family, Evergreen Ash, Tipu Tree, Olive family, Legume Family, Protea family, Meranti family (depending on the genus, of the five sepals of a flower either two, three, or all five enlarge and develop into wings as the fruit matures), raasblaar (set of 4 wings).
Maple seeds
“The figure below shows four random pairs of winged maple seeds. In specimen 1, the two wings completely overlap, fitting into a golden rectangle and its reciprocal. In specimen 2, the two wings fit into a single golden rectangle, and the widest point of the two combined wings is at the golden section point of its length. In specimen 3, the right wing has grown along the diagonal of a golden rectangle, while the left wing fits into a golden rectangle and a square, the width of which corresponds to the full width of the wing (in the position it occupies within the whole configuration). Specimen 4 shows a further variation, each of the wings corresponding to the diagonals of 3:4 rectangles.”
Considering each winged seed separately, we find that 1A fits into two golden rectangles; 2A fits into a golden rectangle and a square, corresponding to its width; 3A fits into two golden rectangles and their reciprocal; and 4A fits into two golden rectangles and a square equaling the wing width. Credit: Gyorgy Doczi – The Power of Limits, 1981
Teak seed
- Flutterer/spinners – Empress Tree, Tree of Heaven, Jacaranda, Hopseed Bush, Catalpa, Desert Willow, Yellow Bells, Violet trumpet vine, trumpet trees, Elm Family, Soapberry Family, Hop seed (Dodonea viscosa), Goosefoot family, Four-wing saltbush, Quipo Tree, Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa: seed with a lobed peripheral wing to assist wind dispersal)
Tree of Heaven seeds
- Cottony seeds and fruits – Willow Family, Cottonwoods, Cattail Family, Evening Primrose Family, Willow-Herb, California fuchsia, Bombax family, Kapok tree, Floss silk tree, Sycamore Family
Cottonwood seeds
- Dust seeds – Orchids. A single capsule of the tropical American orchid Cycnoches chlorochilon produces almost four million seeds. The tiny embryo of each seed consists of 8-150 undifferentiated cells that will grow into a stunning orchid plant.
Credit: Seeds of orchids, plate 2 of 3 – by J.G.Beer (1863)
- Ubiquitous tumbleweed – Russian Thistle
The Tree of Heaven seed (a flutterer/spinner) spins along its longitudinal axis like a rolling pin.
We see that spirals and vortexes are not only involved in the structure of seeds and plants, but also in the function of how seeds disperse.
The maple seed as it falls to the ground.
“Wind dispersal has several advantages. Strong air currents or a storm can carry a fruit or seed far away, sometimes many kilometers. Traveling on the wind is also cheap since the energy-rich rewards needed to attract animal dispersers are unnecessary. However, a significant disadvantage of wind dispersal is that the distribution of the diaspores depends on the direction and strength of the wind. Wind dispersal is therefore haphazard and hence wasteful. Most wind-dispersed seeds are doomed because they fail to reach a suitable place where they can grow into a new plant.”12
Water Dispersal
The seeds of these plants are renowned for their floatability.
The often have hooks or spines that help them anchor on a suitable substrate and cling to the fur or feathers of an animal.
Some, however, sink.
Some are dependent upon rain to flush their seeds out of their capsules (Aizoaceae).
Others are dependent upon ocean currents and can be taken thousands of kilometers away from their place of origin (pink-eyed cerbera; exotic sea-heart). The coconut can travel on average 5000 km while still afloat.
Examples of water-dispersed seeds include:
Yellow floatingheart (tessellated surface – pictured below); water chestnuts; hornwort; starwort; purple loosestrife; flowering rush.
Credit: Rob Kesseler
The sacred lotus is a unique seed needing both wind and water.
“The center of the large, waterlily-like flower is occupied by the enlarged floral axis with the shape and appearance of a shower head. Sunken into this structure are the individual carpels, each of which develops into a single-seeded nutlet. The nutlets remain embedded in their compartments in the floral axis until they are ripe, at which point the compartments open wide enough for them to pass through. When the long fruit stalks are shaken by the wind, the nutlets are flung out and thrown into the water where they immediately sink to the bottom. If the stalk of the fruit breaks off, the nutlets may be dispersed over a longer distance. The ‘shower head’ is wider at the top than the bottom and so lands face down on the water. Its spongy air-filled tissue ensures that the fruit floats on the surface, releasing some of the fruitlets instantly, and others later as the remaining air escapes from the chambers.”13
Interestingly, the oldest living seed whose exact age could be established belongs to the sacred lotus, at 1,288 (+/- 250) years.
The other oldest living seed was from a Judean date palm from approximately 2,000 years ago. The exact age is not known. It was recovered from excavations at Herod the Great’s palace on Masada in Israel and was germinated in 2005. The palm grown from this seed is named Methuselah (pictured below).
Self-Dispersal
Some seeds self-disperse with ballistic methods – actively catapulting the seeds away or by burying fruits in the ground.
Some examples are: common broom, gorse, sweet peas, and lupins.
Others include: petty spurge, sun spurge, dog’s mercury, and annual mercury.
The fruit of Tetraberlinia morelia, an African legume tree at home in the rainforests of west Gabon and southwest Cameroon, aided by its great height, shoots its seeds up to 60m from the mother plant (diagram below).
The ribbed fruit of the sandbox tree, the size of a mandarin, produces the sound of a loud gunshot when it erupts.
Other self-dispersed seeds are the touch-me-not (Impatiens), dwarf mistletoe and the squirting cucumber.
Some plants that bury their fruits after pollination and fertilization such as the peanut (pictured below), Bambara groundnut from West Africa and Astragalus hypogaeus from west Siberia.
Some plants bury their seeds underground with a rotating movement of their hygroscopic appendages, which twist and untwist with changes in humidity, allowing the diaspore to drill itself into the ground. Examples include the red-stem stork’s bills (pictured below) and musky stork’s bill.
Animal Dispersal
“A plant that manages to develop a relationship with animals needs fewer seeds to guarantee the survival of the species.”14
Fifty percent of gymnosperms use animals to assist in seed-dispersal.
Sweet and juicy fruits lure animals to eat them. They then disperse the seeds through their feces after digestion.
Because of this method, these seeds are usually smooth, globose to ovoid and covered with a hard endocarp or seed coat to withstand gastric juices.
Birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and insects can act as dispersers including ants, rodents, bats, bears, apes, monkeys, elephants, antelopes, deer, wild boars, fox, martens, badgers, apes, monkeys, possums, kangaroos, wallabies, orangutans, Asian rhinos, tapirs, fruit bats and of course, birds of all kinds.
Other seeds rely on spines, hooks or sticky substances to hitchhike on the skin, feathers, fur or legs of unsuspecting mammals and birds.
These include: linseed, plantains and parasitic mistletoes, beggar’s ticks, burdock, cocklebur and Devil’s claws.
And of course there are a great number of seeds dependent upon human activity for dispersal and cultivation.
“The extraordinary survival skills of seeds had a great influence on the evolution of our civilization. The development of modern societies is strongly linked to advances in agriculture. Agriculture and permanent settlements became possible only when people discovered that they could collect and store seeds to cultivate their own supply of a certain crop rather than having to lead a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence.
It is no exaggeration that our entire civilization is built on seeds. Think of cereals such as rice, wheat, maize, barley, rye, oat and millet; and pulses such as beans, peas and lentils. They are the main source of nourishment for billions of people worldwide and they are all seeds. Rice alone is the staple of half the people on Earth. Then there are the pleasures in life to which seeds contribute like the nuts we nibble, the beer we drink, or the coffee we crave in the mornings. Seeds provide many of the spices used in cooking: pepper, nutmeg, cumin, caraway, fennel and mustard, to name a few.
Seeds also yield precious raw materials: they provide valuable oils, like the linseed oil used in varnishes and paints; the rapeseed oil that serves as fuel; and castor oil, an excellent lubricant for jet engines and heavy machinery. Another raw material of great economic importance is cotton, which consists of the hairs shaved off the seeds of the cotton plant.”15
“The seed, with no visible or tangible form, is the pattern, the Idea of what it engenders; it is a transcendent power. Around a bodiless pattern a formless substance coagulates into a living being, complete, complex, and thought by the power.
It is the wonder of the world: everything that is, all that exists has seed; just as will and thought are the seeds of mental creation.” R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz
- Kesseler, Rob and Stuppy, Wolfgang, Seeds: Time Capsules of Life, Papadakis, 2014
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- Critchlow, Keith, The Hidden Geometry of Flowers: Living Rhythms, Form and Number, Floris Books, 2011
- Kesseler, Rob and Stuppy, Wolfgang, Seeds: Time Capsules of Life, Papadakis, 2014
- ibid.
- The Remarkable Sea Heart: Monkey Ladder and Ocean Voyager, https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/plmay97.htm
- Job’s Tears: A Wild Grass that Produces Nature’s Most Perfect Bead, https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/plapr99.htm
- Kesseler, Rob and Stuppy, Wolfgang, Seeds: Time Capsules of Life, Papadakis, 2014
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
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