Plants and Society 7th Edition by Estelle Levetin ,Karen McMahon

Exercise 4

Violets and thousands of other plant species have evolved seeds with a small, fatty appendage, known as an elaiosome , rich in oils. Elaisomes attract ants, which carry these seeds back to their nests and remove the elaiosomes to feed them to their larvae.
Speculate on the fate of the seeds in which the elaiosomes have been removed. What is the benefit to the plant in making a seed with an elaiosome How could you test your hypothesis