Fig. 4.

Experimental determination of spore ejection speed in N. tetrasperma. (A) Composite image of the flight of a N. tetrasperma spore at 63-μs intervals, including (slightly displaced) trajectory predicted from Eq. 2. The dotted curve shows the outline of originating perithecium. (B) Fit of spore trajectory (points) to Eq. 2; giving launch speed U₀ = 1.24 m·s⁻¹. (C) Spore piles (outlined by solid curves) surrounding the perithecium (dotted curve). (Scale bar: 0.5 mm.) (D) Inferred launch speeds from spore prints of N = 100 fruiting bodies.