Milkweed at the wetlands park

Steve and I have been doing some walks at the OSU wetlands park. Mostly it's to look for birds, but I usually have a camera along just in case something catches my eye. As we were walking out to the billabong I spotted a milkweed fruit that had opened to disperse its seeds.




This is the backside of the fruit.











The other side shows all the action. Each of the seeds have a plume attached. These are the floaties that kids like to catch and use for making wishes.








The seeds are well adapted for flight. They have a flat wing surrounding the seed and the plume opens into a parachute.