Neil was eating evening snack of his favorite fruit orange when suddenly he happened to crunch a seed. “Eeeew.. Yuck… So bitter!” His grandpa was sitting next to him and said “You know Neil these tiny and sometimes bitter things that you spit out while eating a fruit… Without them you wouldn’t even be eating that fruit.”

“Is it true  grandpa?? How?” Neil asked.

“Seeds are what give birth to plants. Seeds of different plants look different from each other. For example an orange seed is different from a cheeku seed. A papaya seed is different from a mango seed. But one thing is common with all seeds is that when they get into the soil and get enough sunlight and water they turn into plants. Guess what this turning of seed into plant is known as?” Grandpa asked.

“That’s MAGIC.” shouted Neil.

“No, it is called germination.” Grandpa chuckled.

“Also do you know seeds can travel as far as across the countries? Some plants that now grow in your country did not even belong to it years ago. I will tell you a story. Once upon a time a coconut tree hated standing alone on an island. So one day  it told good friend the ocean how lovely it would be to have some tree friends that are like him. Next day ocean took a few coconuts along with its currents from the other island. They became trees in a few years and lived happily ever after.” Grandpa said.

“That means water can carry seeds from one place to the other.” Neil asked.

“Yes and not only water, animals also disperse seeds by carrying them to places in their fur or mouth. Some seeds are so light that winds carry them to faraway places. And most unlikely, fire scatters seeds as well. It dries up the fruits and then the fire resistant seeds break open, get scattered and germinate.” Grandpa explained.

Neil was overwhelmed with the new things he got to know, wiped his mouth and quickly ran off to the garden to explore more about seeds.