The Swimming of the Ginkgo Sperm - Arnold Arboretum

It is happening right now at the Arnold Arboretum —this very week. One of the most bizarre mating rituals imaginable is playing out on our female (seed-bearing) ginkgo trees. Inside the beautiful inch-in-diameter seeds, pairs of huge sperm are being produced by the pollen tubes that grew out of the pollen grains released by the male (pollen-producing) trees last spring. Now, four months later, sperm have been formed in these tubes and are swimming to the eggs contained inside the future seed. (Yes, plants, like animals, produce sperm and egg to make the next generation.) An amazing thing to contemplate this unseen world inside a ginkgo seed. So, why would a ginkgo tree, whose seeds may be found more than a hundred feet in the air, resort to swimming sperm to find a mate? The answer is rooted in history. The ancestors of all land plants (green algae) had swimming sperm that sought out (swam to) eggs to create the next generation. A pretty good idea if you live full time in the water. Am

It is happening right now at the Arnold Arboretum —this very week. One of the most bizarre mating rituals imaginable is playing out on our female (seed-bearing) ginkgo trees. Inside the beautiful inch-in-diameter seeds, pairs of huge sperm are being produced by the pollen tubes that grew out of the pollen grains released by the male (pollen-producing) trees last spring. Now, four months later, sperm have been formed in these tubes and are swimming to the eggs contained inside the future seed. (Yes, plants, like animals, produce sperm and egg to make the next generation.) An amazing thing to co