Hitchhikers & Pilots

QuickLinks

📺 Watch Crash Course Botany, ep. 9 “Why Flowers Exist (Gymnosperms & Angiosperms)”

📱 Track and log native plants at iNaturalist

🌐 Learn about the of Native Plant Trust and seedbanking

Curiosity

Keep the fun going

    • The Legless Travelers: If plants are rooted in one spot and cannot walk, how do their baby seeds manage to travel all over the world?

    • Leaving the Nest: Why do you think a mother plant wants its seeds to "fly" or "hitchhike" far away instead of dropping straight down into its own shade?

    • Who Is in Charge?: When a burr snags onto your sleeve, who is doing the actual moving—you or the plant?

    • Invasive Species: When plants are introduced to an area where they do not grow naturally, they can take over.  This is called an invasive species. How do you think invasive species take over a new ecosystem? 

  • While you are in NATURE

    While in Nature: The Sock Safari Put a pair of large, fuzzy wool socks right over your shoes and walk through an overgrown meadow, a patch of tall weeds, or an autumn trail. When you finish your walk, sit down and inspect your socks like a field scientist! Use a magnifying glass to look at the tiny hooks, spikes, or sticky hairs on the seeds that successfully hitched a ride.

    While you are at HOME

    Gather a collection of different flying "pilot" seeds from your yard (like a dandelion puff or a winged maple key) along with a few household objects (a small piece of paper, a cotton ball, a toy brick). Set up a box fan or a hairdryer on a low setting on a flat table or the floor. Drop each item directly in front of the breeze and use a tape measure to track how many feet your different "pilots" can glide before touching the ground.

Creativity

Let nature inspire you

  • Did you know that humans frequently steal engineering designs directly from nature? This is called biomimicry! In the 1940s, a Swiss engineer went for a hike in the woods and noticed how tightly burdock burrs clung to his dog's fur. He looked at them under a microscope, saw hundreds of tiny hidden hooks, and went on to invent Velcro!

    Challenge your child to step into the shoes of a biomimicry inventor. Gather household items like scraps of yarn, tape, foil, paperclips, cotton balls, and a scrap of cardboard. Challenge them to build a prototype of their own invention:

    1. Try to build a custom Hitchhiker seed that can successfully snag and stick to a wool blanket or fleece sweater when tossed.

    2. Try to build a custom Pilot seed that can float slowly and spin safely to the ground when dropped from a high chair.

    Draw and label the blueprints of your successful inventions in your field notes notebook!

  • Seed travel connects us directly to the memory and movement of the land, showing us how forests regenerate, spread, and heal themselves after a disturbance.

    Indigenous communities across North America share an ancient, deeply respectful relationship with seeds, viewing them not simply as agricultural resources, but as living relatives, historical time capsules, and ancestors. During periods of forced displacement and historical upheaval, Indigenous women famously saved the futures of their tribes by secretly braiding precious heirloom seeds into their hair or sewing them into the hidden hems of their skirts to carry them to new lands.

  • Today, you can learn about seed travel and ancestral botany through these 100% tribe-run resources:

    • The Cherokee Nation Seed Bank: The Cherokee Nation operates its own cultural seed repository to safeguard rare heirloom cultivars that represent centuries of Cherokee history. In 2020, they became the very first U.S.-based tribe to deposit their sacred seeds (like Cherokee White Eagle Corn and Trail of Tears Beans) into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic for eternal preservation. Read about their ongoing botanical traditions on the Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources Office portal.

    • The Meskwaki Nation: The Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa—the "People of the Red Earth"—maintain an active connection to their native woodland plants. Explore how they protect seed biodiversity and traditional food sovereignty through the official Meskwaki Nation Cultural Preservation platform.

Connection

Learn about connection between people and seeds

Conservation

When wild spaces are cleared for roads and buildings, native plants can lose the pathways they need to spread their seeds naturally. Conservation groups and botanists work tirelessly to build seed banks and protect wild plant communities.

    • Native Plant Trust: This organization runs an advanced ex situ seed banking network, sustainably gathering wild native seeds and freezing them under strict conditions. If a rare plant population faces an environmental disaster or wildfire, scientists can retrieve these stored seeds to replant and rescue the ecosystem.

    • iNaturalist: A massive open-source community platform where citizens log observations of wild flora. This helps conservationists track where native plants are actively spreading and watch out for invasive species that crowd them out.

    • Brush Your Gear: Hitchhiker seeds are brilliant, but invasive weeds use this superpower to sneak into places where they don't belong, stealing water and soil from native plants. Always scrape down the soles of your hiking boots and brush your dog's fur before and after exploring a trail so you don't accidentally drop an invasive traveler in a new ecosystem!

    • Practice the 20% Rule: If you collect wild seeds for your nature projects or home garden, always practice the ethical rule of sustainable harvesting: never take more than 20% of the seeds from any single plant community. Leave the remaining 80% to feed local birds, insects, and the soil itself. Remember, it is illegal to collect seeds in state or national parks!

    • Plant a "Pilot" Oasis: Work with your family to plant native, wind-dispersed plants in your backyard or a window flower box. Plants like native milkweed produce silky fluff "pilots" that travel on the breeze while providing essential food for migrating Monarch butterflies.

    • Keep a Seed Log: Dedicate a page in your field notes notebook to act as a seed archive. Tape down safely found, non-invasive hitchhikers or pilot seeds, and write down the date, location, and a description of their travel mechanisms.