Word of the Week | Cotyledon
Cotyledons are an amazing part of plant life, they play a crucial role in nourishing the seedling, providing it with vital nutrients as its first meal. Some cotyledons even serve to store food for sustenance later on in development. With such importance placed upon them, let's take some time to appreciate these fascinating embryonic leaves.
Cotyledons, the creative beginnings of most plants. When you take a seed, already inside there’s a cotyledon embryo ready to emerge. Protected by a tough outer seed layer, the seed leaf won’t emerge until the conditions are just right; moisture, light and warmth are the main parameters of this.
Once you see the outer shell cracked open the cotyledons appear, often not at all the same shape as the main leaves which develop later.
Sycamore Cotyledons
During our Learning Community this week we took a few moments to collect a handful of the beautiful sycamore seedlings growing all over the woodland. The little spinning samaras fell everywhere in the autumn and now as we look around, the spirals are a vibrant, bright green against the earth.
The children spent their nature journaling time this week exploring the different stages then putting paint to paper to capture their curiosities.
When they had finished and all the journals shut, one dear little soul took all the seedlings and potted them up. Her beautiful curiosity will for sure start a whole new woodland; 28 little seedlings ready to take on the world.
At home….
Perhaps document the seed leaves coming through where you are.
Take a moment to search in a local woodland for some sprouting seeds; acorns, samaras even conkers.
Another fun little experiment is to sow some seeds and watch how they germinate. The likelihood is that the first leaves won’t look like the leaves the plant will eventually grow with.
