Observations on primary dispersal of White Spruce, Picea glauca, seed

Abstract

The flights of 50 seeds, each being the first seed to fall from a selected cone, were observed over 5 hr from a single tree on the eastern edge of a forest clearing. About 38% of the variation in distance travelled by the seed could be attributed to the time the seed was airborne. Individual seeds commonly attained heights greater than their cone of origin and had circuitous routes that were not necessarily reflected in the distance at which they landed from the parent tree