Seeds consist of a dormant plant embryo, stored food and one or two seed coats.
They develop from ovules within the flower that are fertilized through a long tube grown by a grain of pollen from another plant of the same species. After fertilization the embryo grows into a young plant. For this micrograph Dee picked one of the last autumn dandelions growing on the lawn of Lamont's marine biology building. She carefully pried the blossom open to reveal the row of seeds nestled within, and placed it in the SEM still intact. Normally these seeds would have floated away on air currents and been carried on the wind by puffballs made of fluffy strands that attach to each seed like a miniature parachute.