Life after death

The withered teasel heads make an appropriate study for the years' end especially in monochrome but wait a minute  - what are those tiny green shoots doing there? Curiously, it means that some seeds remaining within have started to germinate due to the mild damp weather.  It's a form  of vivipary (live birth) displayed by some plant species and is not uncommon  in teasels, indeed sometimes the whole seed head sprouts into a green fuzz. 
Vivipary happens in other things too including familiar ones such as apples and tomatoes. If you look  at this you will see a delightful young scientist explaining all about it, and if you want to  investigate the phenomenon a bit more see if you can stomach the self-sprouting strawberry featured here. It really is very fascinating. 

Happy New Year!