Fwd: Seedy records

[Daniel Janzen]

to add to the list that willl follow this question, I once counted
17,464 seeds in a single normal-appearing ripe Dicraspidia
donnell-smithii fruit (Elaeocarpaceae) from a roadside tree in
Golfito, Costa Rica.  The fruit itself was globular, fleshy, lightly
sweet and about 1.8 cm in diameter, with a paper-thin rind.  They are
presumed to be eaten by birds and bats (just as the much better known
Muntingia calabura in the same family, which has a lot of seeds in a
fruit but nothing like this).    Dan Janzen


>Date:         Mon, 25 Apr 2005 02:34:03 -0500
>Reply-To: Finn Rasmussen <FinnR at BOT.KU.DK>
>Sender: Taxacom Discussion List <TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU>
>From: Finn Rasmussen <FinnR at BOT.KU.DK>
>Subject:      Seedy records
>To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
>X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.36
>Status:
>
>The seed thread: Does anybody know which dicot fruit holds the highest
>number of seeds? Of course nothing can beat the orchids (up to 4 million,
>about 1400 in ordinary temperate terrestrial orchids), but giant pumpkins
>look like they could hold a quite substantial number of seeds. Or what
>about the tiny dusty seeds in fruits of some Ericales?  - Finn Rasmussen,
>Copenhagen