09:27 Feb 14, 2011 

I agree that a reverse translation would be bizarre, but van der Burgt's 1997 paper (in English) is merely being referenced in Shiky's (French) text. And yes, I agree with your interpretation of "parent plant".

09:05 Feb 14, 2011 

If paper was first written in English, it seems bizarre to be making a reverse translation from French. No one is suggesting that the paper is "bullshit" or arguing with the academic credentials of the author. You apear to agree with the points made made by Tony any I (for which please refer to my comments below). The question posed by the asker was for a translation of "pied producteur". That term makes perfect sense in the context of the sentence as given as it would verge on the impossible to measure distances of dispersal from individual seed pods. It was not to identify the plant part for which uses "ballocherie" ("ballochery" in English) is the mechanism of dispersal. See: http://www.brg.prd.fr/brg/pdf/FORETS_TROPICALES.pdf (box in top right corner for definition of "ballocherie").

21:47 Feb 13, 2011 

Since van den Burgt is a) Dutch, and b) affiliated with the internationally recognised institute at Wageningen, we can be sure that the paper was written in English, and is not bullshit. He speaks of violent dispersal of seeds from "explosively dehiscent pods", by which he means seed pods in which a large stress has built up. The pod (in the branches) is surely not the same as the "pied", ie where the tree stands on the forest floor.// Sorry, van der Burgt...

09:48 Feb 12, 2011 

"Dehiscence" the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure to release its contents or, in medicine, of a wound is the same in French - "déhiscence". A pod in botany is "une cosse" or "une gousse. Hence the correct botanical term for a "dehiscing pod" in French is une "gousse déhiscente" as distinct from une "gousse non déhiscente".