the.com/seed
a tree's whole ambition zipped into a package small enough to swallow accidentally
means A small embryonic plant enclosed in a protective coat, capable of growing into a new plant — or, by extension, the starting point of anything (an idea, a fund, a tournament bracket).
from From Old English 'sǣd,' tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root (compare Dutch 'zaad,' German 'Saat') and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European base meaning 'to sow' — the same ancient root that gives us 'sow' and is a cousin of Latin 'serere,' 'to plant.' So the word and the act have been tangled together for thousands of years: to name the seed was already to imagine the sowing.
- age record
- a 2,000-year-old seed germinated into a date palm
- deep freeze
- global seed vault sits frozen inside Arctic permafrost
- stowaway tactic
- some hitch rides by sticking to animal fur
- size range
- orchid seeds are nearly dust-fine and invisible
- dormant trick
- some wait decades underground for the right fire
apple seeds — contain amygdalin, which produces cyanide when digested, in amounts of 1-2 mg per seed
coffee arabica seeds — domesticated in ethiopia around the 9th century, now 60% of global coffee production
cannabis seeds — legal to own in canada since legalization in 2018, sold openly in seed banks