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The Seed's Flawless Design Whether by means of the wind, or whether by means of other carriers, male pollens which reach female flower organs have reached the end of their journey. Everything is ready for the forming of the seed. The most important step in sexual reproduction is seed formation. It will be useful to examine this formation, starting right from the general structure of the flower.
In the center of most flowers are one or more carpels, the "female" reproductive parts. The carpel has a swollen end, called the stigma, under which there is a stalk, called the style, and at the bottom an ovary, which contains the blueprint for the seeds.
Pollen coming from male organs lands on the stigma, the surface of which is covered with a sticky liquid, and then reaches the ovary by means of the style. This sticky liquid has a very important function. As long as the pollen grains are unable to reach the ovary beneath the style, they will not be able to fertilise the seeds. This liquid ensures that by making them stick together the pollen does not go to waste. The seed is formed only when male and female reproductive cells come together.
After landing on the stigma, each individual pollen, in other words, each male reproductive cell, develops a thin tube downwards, and enters the ovary through the style. There are two sperm cells in each one of these pollen tubes. The tube grows down, and enters the ovary, and the sperm cells come free. In this way the nucleus of one of the sperm cells unites with the egg in the ovary. This fertilized egg cell develops into the embryo, which will form the seek. The nucleus of the second sperm cell unites with the two nuclei of the central cell and they form a specialized tissue which surrounds and nourishes the embryo. This development is known as fertilisation.
After fertilisation, the egg is wrapped up in a coat, and the embryo enters upon a kind of rest period, and grows to become a seed with the food sources stored around it.
In every seed which is formed by the joining of male and female sex cells, there is an embryo plant and a supply of food. This is a very important detail for the development of the seed, because, in the early stages, when it is underground, the seed has no roots or leaves able to produce nutrients, and it will need a food source to be able to grow during this time.
The embryo and the food store surrounding it are actually what we call fruit. These structures possess high levels of proteins and carbohydrates, because their function is to feed the seeds. This being the case, they form an indispensable source of nourishment for both human beings and other living things. Every fruit possesses the best qualities for protecting and nourishing the seeds it contains. The fleshy part, a quantity of water, and the structure of the external skin have the most effective forms for protecting the seed.
There is another important detail here. Each plant can fertilise only another plant of the same species. If a plant's pollen lands on the stigma of another species, the plant understands this and does not allow the pollen to grow out a tube to reach to its ovary; as a result the seed does not develop because there is no fertilisation.20
For instance, if pollen from wheat flowers is carried to an apple tree, that tree will not produce apples. It will be useful at this point to stop and reflect a little on the extraordinary nature of this. The flower of one species of plant recognises the pollen coming from the flower of a plant of the same species. If it is from its own species, it may start the process of fertilisation. If the pollen is not from its own species, the plant will not begin the fertilisation process. So how did the stigma of the female flower, which can distinguish pollen from its own species according to certain criteria, learn to carry out this identification? How does it know that it has to close down its mechanism against foreign pollen? There is no doubt that the intelligence which controls the plant's every detail designed this mechanism in the flower in the most subtle way so as to guarantee the perpetuation of the species from generation to generation.
What kind of environment the embryo seed would develop in, what it would require during the stages of its development, what it would find when it emerged from the soil, what kind of protection it would need, and all other exigencies were thought of in advance, and the seed was designed with these needs in mind. The external layers protecting the seeds (seed coats) are generally very hard. This structure protects the seed from any external threats it will face and exhibits modifications according to the environment in which it is found. For example, in the final stage of the development of some seeds a resistant waxy substance forms on the external surfaces, thanks to which the seeds become resistant to the effects of water and gas.
And the flawless structures in a flower's life do not end here. The seed coats may be covered with different substances according to the species of the plant; for instance, a single bean will be covered in a thin membrane, and a cherry seed will be protected by a hard, woody coat. The coats of seeds which have to be resistant to water are harder and thicker than others. Again, seeds have been given very different shapes and sizes according to their species. The amount of nourishment is different between those seeds which have to last for a long time before sprouting (for example coconut seeds) and those which begin to sprout a short while after coming into contact with water (melon, water melon, etc.).
As we have seen, seeds have very intricate systems to enable them reproduce easily and to endure without any breakdown. The intelligence to be seen in each stage of the systems specially designed for plants to reproduce, is a clear proof that these systems were created by God, the possessor of superior knowledge.
Time to Spread: the Dispersal of Seeds
The methods employed by plants when spreading their seeds, each one of which is most effective, vary with the structure of the seeds of each plant. For example, seeds which are small and light enough to fly on a very slight breeze, immediately fall off when stirred by the wind and are fertilised without any difficulty. It is enough for some plants to reproduce for their seeds simply to fall to the ground. Others disperse their seeds by a natural catapult method, in other words, they fire their seeds off. This is brought about by the release of the tension which forms when the seed is growing inside its coat. The seed coats of some plants split open after drying in the sun, and others open and disperse their contents when affected by such external factors as the wind or animals.
Plants Which Disperse Their Seeds by Bursting
When we examine the methods employed in the dispersal process, which is exceedingly important to the reproduction of plants, we see that they are built upon the most sensitive of balances. For instance, some plants, such as the Mediterranean squirting cucumber, use their own power to spread their seeds. As Mediterranean squirting cucumbers begin to ripen, they begin to fill with a slimy juice. Some time later the pressure exerted by this liquid builds up to such an extent that the outer skin of the cucumber cannot resist it and bursts off its stalk. When this happens, the cucumber sprays the liquid inside it like the trail of a rocket being fired into the air. Behind the cucumber comes a trail of slime and with it, seeds.21
The mechanisms here are very sensitive; the seed-pods fill with liquid when the cucumber begins to fully mature, and the explosion takes place at the time when maturation is complete. If this system began to work prematurely, the cucumber's bursting off its stalk before the seeds were formed would serve no purpose. Such an eventuality would mean the end of that species of plant. But no such risk presents itself, thanks to its pre-planned perfect timing. The claim that these mechanisms, which have each had to be present right from the start, evolved as the result of a period of change lasting hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years, is certainly not founded on intelligence, logic, or science.
The seed-pods, the liquid inside them, the seeds, the maturing of the seeds-everything must come into existence at the same time. The uninterrupted perpetuation of such a system, which has functioned perfectly right up until today, shows that it emerged at the very outset in a complete and flawless form. In other words, it was created by one Creator.
The Broom and the Hura Tree
The reproduction of the broom again takes place with the self-opening method, but in a manner exactly opposite to that of the Mediterranean squirting cucumber. The bursting of the seeds of the broom happens not with an increase of liquid, but with its evaporation. As a pod warms on a summer's day, the side facing the sun dries faster than that in the shade. The pod splits suddenly into two halves as a result of the difference in pressure between the two sides, and in this way the tiny black seeds inside are dispersed in all directions.
One of the most successful plants which disperses its seeds by bursting is the Brazilian tree known as the "Hura." When the tree dries out and the time comes to disperse its seeds, it can hurl them up to a distance of some 12 metres. This is a considerable distance for a tree.22
Helicopter Seeds
European maples and sycamores have a very interesting design. These seeds are equipped with only a single wing which sprout from just one side. The weight of the seed and the length of the wing are so well balanced that these seeds also spin. Sycamores often grow in relatively isolated locations, and there the wind can give the seeds considerable assistance. Spinning around themselves, helicopter seeds can travel great distances in even a slight breeze.23
The seeds inside the pods of Bertholletia trees, which grow in South America, stay where they are for a while after falling to the ground. The reason for this is that they have no properties to attract animals' attention. They have no smell, for instance, their exteriors are not striking to look at, and furthermore they are very difficult to break. For this tree to reproduce, the pods, containing the nuts, have to be taken out of the shells and buried underground.
But none of these negative properties are a problem for the Bertholletia, because there is a creature sharing the same environment with it that can overcome all these shortcomings.
The agouti, a rodent which lives in South America, knows that there is food for it under this thick, odourless shell. Thanks to the agouti's chisel-sharp front teeth, it can easily cut through the tough pod shell to get to the seed. There are about 20 nuts inside each shell. And this is more than the agouti can eat at one go. The agouti therefore stuffs the nuts in its cheek pouches and covers them up after burying them in little holes it digs. Although it carries out this process in order to find and eat the nuts later, fortunately, the agouti does not have a perfect memory and the majority of the seeds are forgotten and left to germinate into a new tree about a year later.24 This harmony is not, of course, one which arose by chance. These living things did not discover one another by chance. These living things were created. This complementarity, of which there are countless examples in nature, is the product of a superior wisdom. God, the Possessor of this superior wisdom, creates both living things with all these characteristics and their symbiotic connection.
Seeds Which Can Withstand All Conditions
As a rule, reproductive cells in living things die shortly after leaving their own natural environments. But this does not apply to plants. Both plant pollen and seeds can remain alive miles away from the parent plant. And furthermore, it is not important how much time passes after leaving the parent plant. There are seeds which remain viable after years, or even hundreds of years.
The lupine, found in the arctic tundra, is a fine example of plant seeds being able to survive for long periods. The seeds of the plant feel the need for the warm weather of certain times of the year in order to germinate. When they feel that the heat is insufficient, even if all the other conditions are met, the seeds do not burst, but wait in the frozen soil for the temperature to rise. When the perfect environment is attained, they start to grow and finally germinate, taking no account of the length of time that has passed since they left the parent plant. Seeds have even been found in the fissures between rocks that have lasted out for hundreds of years without sprouting or spoiling.
This is a most interesting situation. What does it mean for a plant to be aware of its external environment? Since the plant will not be able to manage this by itself, let us consider what other possibilities there might be. A mechanism inside the plant might inform it of the situation. The plant may then suddenly arrest its development, as if an order had been given. But in that case how did such a system develop? Did the plant devise this system by thinking about it for itself? How did it produce the technical necessities within itself?
Of course the plant did not construct this system itself. All this information is always in the plant seed, hidden in the genetic code, right from when the plant first emerged. The lupine in any case possesses a system which can arrest its development when it comes across cold weather. It is impossible for such a structure to come about on its own. No matter how long the imaginary formation time which evolutionists call the "evolutionary period," and whatever coincidences take place during it, the formation of such a system which informs plants about the weather situation is completely impossible.
In the same way, seeds of Mimosa Glomerata were kept in dry storage in a herbarium, and germinated at once when soaked in water. Another example of a plant with highly resistant seeds is the Albizia Julibrissin. Its seeds, kept in London's British Museum herbarium, germinated after no less than 147 years, when became soaked during efforts to put out a fire in the building during the Second World War.25
Because air temperatures are low in tundra regions, spoiling takes place slowly. So much so that some seeds, taken from inside 10,000 year-old glaciers, can return to life when taken to laboratories and given the necessary amounts of heat and moisture.26
As we all know, the substance of the seed contains a certain quantity of nutrition with an outer shell reminiscent of wood. The idea that it could have a thermometer inside it, that it could have any way of exchanging information with the outside world, and that it could have the ability to decide on its actions, on the basis of the information it receives as a result of its own capacities must be described as illogical, or even "irrational." We are faced with an extraordinary substance, which looks like a small piece of wood from the outside, with no link between the enclosed place it is in and the outside world, yet which can measure air temperatures and in later stages decide whether the heat is sufficient for development. A piece of wood which possesses such perfect mechanisms as to realise that unfavourable conditions will later damage its development after germinating, which knows what it has to do to arrest its development the moment it senses such unfavourable conditions, and to continue its development from where it left off when temperatures rise to the necessary level.
This extraordinary mechanism in seeds with this resistant structure cannot be explained by means of chance as the evolutionists claim. In fact, seeds were designed, or in other words created, in such a way as to resist difficult conditions.
Without doubt God, the Lord of all the worlds, shows us evidence of His creation and His own existence even in these little seeds.
It is He Who sends down water from the sky. Thus We bring forth plants of every type with it; We produce green vegetation from it. We produce close-growing grain from it and the palm trees laden with clusters of dates close at hand produced from pollen, as well as orchards full of grapes, olives and pomegranates, which are so similar and yet dissimilar. Look at their fruit as He causes it to grow and ripen. In that there are signs for people who believe. (Surat al-An'am: 99)
Seeds Which can Stay in Water for 80 Days
Alongside seeds which can resist cold weather conditions, others possess structures which allow them to stay in water for a long time. There are even seeds which can remain in water for as long as 80 days without germinating or spoiling. The most famous of these is the coconut. For the coconut seed to be transported in safety, it is placed within a very hard shell. Everything needed for a long journey, a supply of rich food and a half-a-pint or so of water, is ready inside it. On the outside, it is fitted with a fibre float that keeps it on the surface of the water.
The sea bean is another plant which sends its seeds by water. Its seeds are not as large as coconuts, and even after a year at sea, it can still be viable.27
As seen from these two examples, the most important property of plants which multiply by using water as a vehicle is that the seeds germinate only when they reach dry land. Actually, this is a most interesting and exceptional situation, because as we know, plant seeds usually begin to germinate as soon as they come into contact with water. But this does not apply to these particular plants. Because of the particular structure of their seeds, plants which disperse their seeds by water do not abide by this rule. If these plants began to germinate as soon as they came into contact with water, as other plants do, they would long since have died out. Whereas these plants are able to survive by reason of general mechanisms suited to the conditions in which they live.
All plants in the world possess the structures best suited to them. These exceptional features bring to mind the question: "How is it that such resistance should have come about in just those species of plants which need it?" Let us take an example-the coconut is the answer to this question:
1. Palm seeds will need a resistant structure in order to be able to spend a long time in water, and for this reason their shells are quite hard. The shells also have water-resistant properties.
This is not a coincidence!
2. They will need more nourishment than normal on their long journeys, and the exact quantity of food necessary is placed inside the coconut seed-package.
This too is not the work of coincidence!
3. They open the moment they "know" they have arrived on dry land.
There is no way this is a coincidence!
As we have seen, these seeds, with their hard shells, their nutrition stores, their sizes, and in short, all their special features, have been designed to be resistant for long periods when necessary. If this finely calculated structure, the shell thickness of which is exactly measured, and the required store of nutrition had had to come about as the result of coincidences, the seed would have germinated before it reached the land, in other words, it would have died.
Of course, no such thing happens, thanks to the sensitive controls over the germination of these seeds. There is absolutely no doubt that the amount of food and water in the seeds, when they are to come to land, and in short all the precautions taken, could not have come about by means of any intelligence or abilities of the seeds themselves.
All these fine calculations and measurements were flawlessly carried out by God, who created the seeds, who knows all their needs and characteristics, and who possesses infinite knowledge and intelligence.
Everything has its measure with Him. (Surah ar-Ra'd: 8)
As for the earth, We stretched it out and set upon it immovable mountains and made everything grow in due proportion on it. (Surat al-Hijr: 19)
The Ant - A Hired Porter
Some seeds have features which are structurally different from those most widely known. The most surprising facts emerge when one examines them. As an example, let us take a seed which is covered in an oily, edible tissue. This oily tissue, which may look quite ordinary at first sight, is actually a most important detail for the survival of that plant species. For that is why ants show an interest in that particular plant. The multiplication of these plants takes place by means of ants, unlike most plant species. The plant, which is unable to place its seeds under the ground by itself, has chosen to do so by having ants carry them. The oily tissue around the seeds is a most attractive food for ants, which eagerly gather the seeds up and carry them to their nests, where they bury them underground.
It might be thought that the seeds' being food is the reason why the ants make such a great effort, but that would be wrong. Despite all the effort the ants make to carry the seeds to their nests, they eat only the external casing, and leave the fleshy inside part. In this way, the ants obtain something to eat, and that part of the seed which carries out the reproduction of the plant is left buried in the soil.28 It would be scientifically completely unrealistic to claim that ants do all this knowingly, or that the plant arranged its seed to have certain features that would appeal to a particular species of ant, or planned to live in the same environment as them.
There can be no argument that the consciousness which organized this flawless reciprocity belongs neither to the plant, nor to the ant. It belongs to a Creator, who knows all the properties of these two living things, and made them for one another. In other words, it is God, their Creator, who gave them that consciousness.
Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. (Surat ar-Rum: 26)
The Seed Becomes a Plant First stage: Germination
Seeds, which resemble little bits of dry wood, are actually bearers of genetic codes which have thousands of pieces of information about plants inside them. All the information about the plant the seed will later produce is hidden inside it. Complete information about it, from the little hairs on the end of its roots, to the tubes inside its stem, its flowers, and the fruit it will bear, exists inside the seed, down to very last tiny detail.
After fertilization, the first stage in a seed's becoming a flower is germination The seed, waiting under the ground, is only wakened into action when factors such as warmth, moisture, and light come together. Before that, it is dormant. When the time comes, it wakes up and starts to grow.
There are a number of stages in the germination process. In the first place, the seed must taken in water so that the cells inside it become hydrated and capable of metabolic activity. Once metabolic activity begins, the root and the shoot begin to grow, and at this stage the cells start to divide. In order for particular functions to be brought about by specialized tissues, the cells have to differentiate. All these processes require a great deal of energy.
For the seed to grow, it needs nourishment. But the seed needs a preliminary source of food until it can obtain the required minerals from its roots. So, where does the seed find the nutrients it needs to grow?
The answer to this question lies in the construction of the seed. The seed's stored food reserves which forms together with it during the fertilization process is used by the seed until it gives off a shoot and appears above the ground. Seeds need the supplementary nutriments in their bodies until they reach the stage of being able to produce their own food.
When all of the conditions are just right, germination begins. The seed takes in water from the soil and the embryo cells start to divide. Later, the seed coat opens. First tiny roots, the beginning of the root system, appear and grow downwards in the soil. Following the development of the tiny roots, the buds which will produce the stem and leaves develop.
Germination begins under the earth, then the new little plant heads up towards the light and grows ever stronger. Once the first leaves have opened, the plant can begin to produce its own nutrition by means of photosynthesis.
What has been explained so far is actually common knowledge, having frequently come under observation. Plants emerging from seeds under the soil is something which everyone is perfectly familiar with. But while the seedling is growing, a true miracle takes place. Seedlings, which weigh only a matter of grams, have no difficulty in making a hole through what may be some kilograms of earth on top of them. The seedling's only aim is to emerge from the soil and reach the light. Plants which have begun to germinate move their slender trunks as if in empty space and slowly head for the daylight, as if there were no heavy weight on top of them. They emerge from the soil in the face of the force of gravity, ignoring in other words all the physical laws which apply to them.
The tiny seed and its roots just half a millimetre wide come to no harm from the soil, which normally tends to rot things and destroy them. Quite the contrary, they rapidly grow and develop.
Experiments were carried out to stop seedlings reaching the daylight by closing off the escape route on top of them by various methods. The results were very surprising. The seedlings put out shoots long enough to get around any obstacle on top of them, or else created pressure where they lay and again succeeded in reaching daylight. While plants are growing they can create considerable pressure where they are. For example, a seedling growing in the cracks of a newly built road can actually open the cracks up still further. In short, they brook no obstacles as they head toward the daylight.
Shoots always grow vertically as they emerge from the soil. As they do this, they oppose the force of gravity. The roots, on the other hand, obey the force of gravity as they head downwards. This raises the question: "How is it that two organs formed on the same plant should start growing in different directions?" In order to answer this, let us have a look at some of the mechanisms in plants.
Two factors govern the growth of plants: light and gravity. The first root and shoot which emerge from the seed possess systems which are very sensitive to these two factors.
There are cells in the root of a germinating plant which can sense gravitational signals. In the shoot, which heads upwards, there are other, light-sensitive, cells. This sensitivity of the cells to light and gravity governs the different parts of the plant's heading in the correct direction. These two stimuli also enable the direction of growth of the root and shoot to be corrected if they are not entirely vertical.29
If we have another look at what we have already established, it will be seen that we are in the face of an extraordinary situation here. The cells which make up the plant are beginning to grow different from one another, and are changing shape to form the different parts of the plant. Furthermore, as we have seen, the shoot and the root are growing in opposite directions.
Let us now consider the root's heading down into the depth of the soil with the force of gravity, together with the shoot's heading up towards the surface. The movement of these structures, which present an image of being quite powerless, as they split the soil, will bring many questions to mind. In particular, there is an important moment of decision at this point. Who, or what, is it which establishes the moment, in other words the time the cells begin to divide, and which shows them what direction to go in? How is it that every cells acts with the knowledge of which region it is to take its place in? How is it that no confusion arises, for example, how is it that the root cells never start to head upwards?
There is basically only one answer to all questions of this sort. It is clearly not the plant itself which takes and implements this decision, or sets up the necessary systems so that no confusion arises and forms them within its own body. Neither is it possible for these systems to have come about through the intervention of any other living thing. And the cells which make up the plant cannot do it. All these factors show us that plants are all directed and governed by another force. In other words, there must exist a higher intelligence which created all the structures they possess, leading the cells to make their decisions and showing them which way to go in order to perform their functions. There is no doubt that this superior wisdom belongs to God, the Lord of all the Worlds.
Shoots Which Brook No Obstacles
A shoot which emerges from the soil may not always find itself in a suitable environment. It may, for instance, find itself under the shadow of a rock or a large plant. In such a situation, if it continues to grow, it will find it difficult to carry out photosynthesis, because it cannot receive direct sunlight. If the shoot does find itself in such a situation when it emerges, it changes its direction of growth towards the source of light. This process, known as phototropism, shows that shoots have a light-sensitive orientation system. When we compare them to animals and human beings, plants are in a more advantageous position as regards light perception, because human beings, for example, can perceive light only with their eyes. Whereas plants have at least three quite distinct photo-receptor mechanisms. For this reason they never confuse direction. Thanks to their flawless orientation systems, based on light and the force of gravity, they easily find their way.
Alongside light-sensitive systems, within plants, there are also localized areas of cell division. These areas, known as meristems, are generally found at the tips of the growing roots and stems. If the cells in the growth areas always grow in the same way during germination, this leads the stem to grow straight. Every plant takes shape according to the growth direction of the plant cells in the meristems of roots and shoots. If the growth of these cells is more on one side and less on the other, then the stem of the plant will grow at an angle. If conditions are appropriate, plant growth starts at the same moment in all areas. The sprouting plant directs its stem straight to the light which it badly needs. On the other hand, the roots, which will provide the necessary water and minerals for the plant from the soil, grow in the most appropriate way thanks to their gravity-sensitive direction systems. At first sight it might be thought that roots spread under ground at random. Whereas actually, thanks to this sensitive system, the root extensions progress like rockets, locked on to their targets in a controlled manner.
The growth controlled by these mechanisms is different from plant to plant, because the growth of every plant takes place in conformity with its own genetic information. For this reason, maximum growth rates are different for every plant. For example, the lupine attains its maximum growth rate at about ten days of age, the cornstalk in its sixth week, the beech tree after a quarter-century.30
Germination is the first stage in a tiny body's becoming a plant several metres long and weighing tons. While the roots of slow-growing plants head down, and the branches up, the systems inside them (food transport systems, reproductive systems, hormones which control the upward and sideways growth of the plant and then make it stop) all emerge together, and there is no delay or imperfection in the emergence of any of them. This is most important. For instance, while a plant's reproductive mechanisms are developing on the one hand, the transport tubes (for water and food) develop on the other. Otherwise, bark or wood tubes would have no importance for a plant whose reproductive mechanism had not developed. There would be no point in roots emerging. Since such a plant could not produce subsequent generations, the subsidiary mechanisms would serve no purpose.
As we have seen, there is a plan in this harmonious design for plant interdependence which definitely could not have come about by chance. Development by stages, as claimed by evolutionist scientists, is completely out of the question.
Let us demonstrate this with a simple experiment that anyone can do. Let us take one seed and together with this something containing a mixture of all the molecules in the seed, of the same size and weight, bury them both at the same depth, and wait for a while. Once a period of time has passed which will differ according to the species, we shall see that the seed we planted has split the soil and has come to the surface. But no matter how long we wait, the other substance will never come to the surface. The result will be the same no matter if we wait a hundred or a thousand years. The reason for the difference is obviously the special design in the seed. Plant genes are encoded with the necessary information for this process. All the systems in plants reveal the existence of conscious choice. All the details show that plants cannot have come about by random events, on the contrary, they show that there was a conscious intervention in the emergence of plants.
Of course this perfect design is proof of the existence of a Creator who knows and brings about everything, down to the finest detail. Just the first stage of the life of plants, the emergence of the seed, clearly reveals to us the unique nature of the creation of God, the Possessor of superior power. God draws our attention to this truth in the Qur'an:
Have you thought about what you cultivate? Is it you who make it germinate or are We the Germinator? If We wished We could have made it broken stubble. You would then be left devoid of crops, distraught. (Surat al-Waqi'a: 63-65)
20. Temel Britannica,
Vol 4, p.299 |
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