Myxodiaspory (formation of mucilage envelope around seeds and fruits) is a common adaptation to dry habitats known in many families of Angiosperms. The mucilage envelope of some seeds seems to be also a unique morphological adaptation which protects myxospermatic diaspores while passing through the bird’s digestive system. To evaluate the protective potential of mucilage, we fed the diaspores of seven plant species (representing three different mucilage types and three species of non-mucilaginous plants) to pigeons, Columba livia domestica. Twenty-four hours later, we collected the droppings of pigeons and examined a total of 18,900 non-destroyed diaspores to check for mucilage presence and germination ability. Out of all the examined diaspores, 4.5% were mucilaginous seeds. Among them, the highest number (12.2–13.5%) of viable diaspores belonged to the hemicellulosic type of mucilage (from Plantago species). Only 3.7% of germinating diaspores with pectic mucilage (Linum usitatissimum) were collected, and no seeds representing cellulosic mucilage (e.g., Ocimum basilicum). For non-mucilaginous plants, we collected only a few individual seeds (0.1% out of 8100 seeds used). We noted that the mucilaginous seeds found in the droppings were able to germinate; however, the germination ability was generally smaller in comparison to the control (i.e., not digested) seeds. Our results revealed that the presence of mucilage envelope has an impact on diaspore dispersal and survivability. With our experiments, we demonstrated for the first time that the mucilage envelope, especially of the non-cellulosic type, supports endozoochory. We also showed that non-mucilaginous seeds can be occasionally dispersed via endozoochory and are able to germinate. The results of our studies can explain the ways of plants distribution at a small, local scale as well as in long-distance dispersal, e.g., between islands or even continents.

Myxodiaspory（种子和果实周围的黏液被膜形成）是对许多被子植物科中已知的干燥生境的常见适应。一些种子的粘液包膜似乎也是一种独特的形态学适应性，可在通过鸟类的消化系统时保护粘膜过硬的水生孢子。为了评估粘液的保护潜力，我们将七种植物（代表三种不同的粘液类型和三种非粘液性植物）的渗孢子喂入了鸽子Columba livia domestica。24小时后，我们收集了鸽子的粪便，并检查了总共18,900个未破坏的水生孢子，以检查其黏液的存在和发芽能力。在所有检查过的水生孢子中，有4.5％是粘质种子。其中，有活力的硬孢子数量最多（12.2–13.5％）属于半纤维素类型的粘液（来自车前草属物种）。仅收集到有果胶粘液（Linum usitatissimum）的发芽硬孢子的3.7％，并且没有代表纤维素粘液的种子（例如罗勒茄））。对于非粘液植物，我们只收集了一些种子（使用的8100种种子中只有0.1％）。我们注意到，在粪便中发现的黏性种子能够发芽。然而，发芽能力通常比对照种子（即未消化的种子）要小。我们的结果表明，黏液包膜的存在对水硬膜的扩散和生存能力有影响。通过我们的实验，我们首次证明了粘膜包膜，尤其是非纤维素类的粘膜包膜支持了内吞。我们还表明，非粘液性种子可以偶尔通过内胚乳散播并能够发芽。我们的研究结果可以解释植物在小规模，局部规模以及长距离扩散（例如在岛屿之间甚至大陆之间）的分布方式。