List of edible food seed dispersal methods in nature

In nature, plants reproduce themselves by dispersing seeds. This list is to help you have an overview of how food we eat and plants disperse their seeds in nature. Typically, seeds need a way to be dispersed onto a new soil area to grow into a new plant.

There are a total of 5 ways plants disperse seeds in nature:

• Animals
• Wind
• Water
• Ballistic (explosion, movement)
• Gravity
• Etc (fire)

Edible nuts (seed dispersal methods in nature)

Nuts which are drupe seeds (tree nuts)

• Coconut
• Water
• Cashew nut
• Animals (bird, mammals - bats, elephant )
• Fruit eating bats: eat the fleshy part of a wild cashew fruit and drop the seed (cashew nut) for germination.
• Almond
• Animals
• Wind (the seed falls near the parent tree, since the strength of wind is limited)
• Water (very rare, when the almond tree is grown near a river)
• Pecan
• Pistachio
• Walnut
• Apricot kernel

True nuts

Typically disperse through masting (mast seeding), in which the tree may only produce nuts enough for few animals to live on that tree for a year, and then for another year, grow lots of nuts and the few animals living on that tree will bury, hide and store them for later consumption. The buried uneaten seeds (nuts) will grow into a new tree.

• Hazelnut
• Animals (red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and mice)
• Animals such as red squirrels and mice may bury, hide and store hazelnut for later use. Some hazelnut will be eaten, other not eaten seeds will grow into a new tree.
• Chestnut
• Animals
• Note: Raw chestnut should not be eaten raw as it contains tannic acid content.
• Acorn
• Animals (squirrels)
• Note: Raw acorns contain tannins which is bitter and  an be toxic, cooking is needed to remove toxins for human consumption
• Candlenut / kukui nuts
• Animals
• Note: Raw candlenut contain saponin and phorbol which are bitter and mildly toxic, cooking is needed to remove toxins for human consumption

Nuts which are actually legumes (nut-like angiosperm seeds)

• Peanut (groundnut)
• Ballistic (the flower wilts, curves down, growing downwards, pushing down into the ground and bury itself. The offsprings are grown close to their parent)
• Peanut dispersal method: https://youtu.be/OLu1oW6rRrM
• Soybean

Nuts which are actually nut-like angiosperm seeds

• Brazil nut
• Macadamia nut

Nuts which are actually nut-like gymnosperm seeds

• Ginkgo nuts
• Pine nuts

For different types of nuts grouping and classification, you can refer to list of edible nuts for more information on these different types of nuts.

Seeds (seed dispersal in nature)

• Hemp seed
• Wind

Grains (seed dispersal in nature)

• Wheat
• Wild wheat: Ballistic
• Domestic wheat: Human (animals)

Drupes (seed dispersal in nature)

Most drupes are dispersed by animals in nature.

Legumes (seed dispersal in nature)

Most legumes are dispersed through explosion (ballistic) in nature.

Nutrients and toxicity

Typically, food seed dispersal through animal dispersion method is the best for human consumption, since the plant relies on animals to reproduce and will thus produce nutrient-rich fruits and seeds to entice the animals. Food seed dispersal through other methods may require some cooking to remove toxins like tannins, saponin, phorbol, phytic acid before eating. Some food which dispersed through animal dispersal method also needs to be cooked to remove toxic or to breakdown phytic acid as well.

Discussion

Feel free to leave a comment below, share with us your opinion and experience, or ask a question if you have any doubt regarding this list of food and plant natural seed dispersal methods. Thanks for reading.