Our Magnolia virginiana, sweet bay, flowered well for pollen dispersal, now the flowers are at the stage of seed dispersal, a gentle reminder of what a fruit really is. The fruits are an aggregate cone-like fruit that is basically green and protective, so not very attractive, but then the individual fruitlets dehisce rather like little milkweed pods exposing bright red-orange seeds that sometimes dangle on a thread. The actual fruit continues to dry out and turn brown. The seed coats are actually dark brown but covered by a fleshy red-orange aril that contains quite a bit of lipid, just what birds need as they get ready for a southerly migration, which is exactly what these seeds are advertising.
From our kitchen table it was obvious a flock of birds was after this food source, and it took awhile for us to figure out who was there. Turned out to be a mixed flock of Swainson's thrushes and red-eyed vireos. This morning all the seeds exposed were gone; there will be more. Successful dispersal was achieved!
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