The upright seeds have a better chance of embedding themselves into the soil below. Once a maple seed lands, the wing helps it stand upright between blades of grass or other foliage. The wings give maple seeds another huge advantage. Insects and hummingbirds rely on the same kind of vortex to hover in one spot. That vortex lowers the pressure above the seed, generating even more lift. While observing the seeds in a smoke-filled wind tunnel, researchers noticed that they actually form a small vortex – like a tiny tornado – atop the wings. Those are the basic ideas behind flying maple seeds, but when scientists dug a little deeper into the aerodynamics, they found something interesting. Then there are the veins on the leading edge of the wing, which generate just enough turbulence to help it cut through the air. When the seed spins, the air moving over the wide end of the wing moves faster than the air closer to the seed, which gives the seed the lift it needs to stay aloft.
If you examine a maple seed closely, you’ll notice that the wing gets wider further away from the seed. Since the seeds don’t fall away from the tree until they’re dry, they’re very light, which helps them travel farther. With a long wing that balances the weight of the seed, maple seeds are perfectly designed for flight. In fact, scientists are using what they’re learning from these flying seeds to develop micro flying machines and even tiny helicopters that can be used for space exploration or to learn more about the atmospheres of planets like Mars. Maple seeds are one of those natural wonders that feature a nearly perfect design. Winged seed of the red maple A Natural Lesson in Aerodynamics
To get around these obstacles, maples developed winged samaras as a way to transport their fruit to sunnier, more hospitable places. And, since only a few animals eat the seeds – mostly turkeys, finches and on rare occasions, squirrels and chipmunks – there is very little chance that wildlife will pick up the seeds and carry them elsewhere. That means for a seedling to grow, the seed can’t simply fall to the ground beneath the tree like a nut or a fruit. One reason is that among trees, maples have some of the largest, widest canopies. An over-abundance of samaras sometimes means the tree experienced some sort of “stress” the previous year, so producing a bumper crop of seeds is the tree’s way of carrying on the species, should that stress continue and that particular tree not survive. Maple trees that are healthy sometimes skip a year in seed formation, either due to poor pollination or to an exceptionally good growing season the year before. Some ash and elm trees also produce samaras, although the maple’s samaras are the very best at flying. Helicopters, maple ‘copters, whirlybirds, twisters or whirligigs – no matter what you call a maple seed, they’re still an endless source of fascination. Many of our Farmers’ Almanac readers and Facebook fans have been asking about the large number of “helicopters” they’ve been seeing, and does it mean anything? What Are Maple Copters, Anyway?įirst, the technical term for this winged seed is samara, which refers to a specialized fruit that is designed to travel long distances from the parent tree.
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