Sample preparation
We cleaned the diaspores with the aid of a stereo microscope and only
selected diaspores with all structures in a well-preserved state, apart
from three exceptions. 1) Fleshy covering structures and some fleshy
outgrowths were removed due to the pronounced changes that these
structures undergo after dispersal, which can lead to unrecognisable
colours, shapes, and sizes. 2) We measured diaspores without scales or
covering structures when most diaspores in a vial of the seed collection
had detached from these structures without handling. 3) Hairy appendages
(e.g., pappus and plumes) were removed due to requirements of the method
(details in Dayrell et al. 2023). The structures that were
not present in the scanned diaspores were recorded as ‘missing
structures’ in the dataset.