fruits and seeds

• Sepals, Petals, and Stamens

  Wither and drop off
• Ovary


  Develops into the fruit
• Ovary Wall


  Forms the fruit wall
• Ovule


  Becomes the seed
• Integuments


  Develop into the seed coat (testa)
• Fertilized Egg


  Forms the embryo
• Fertilized Polar Bodies

  Develop into the endosperm
• A fruit is a mature, ripened ovary that contains seeds
• Fruit


  Protects seeds and facilitates their dispersal
• Types of Fruits

  • Simple Fruits
  • Fleshy Fruits
  • Dry Fruits
  • Aggregate Fruits
  • Multiple Fruits
• Simple Fruits


  Develop from a single ovary of a single flower; can be fleshy or dry
• Fleshy Fruits

  • berries
  • hesperidium
  • pepo
  • pome
  • drupes
• Dry Fruits

  • Dehiscent (follicle, legumes, capsule, loment, silique)
  • Indehiscent (achene, cypsella, caryopsis, nut, samara, schizocarp, utricle)
• Aggregate Fruits


  Develop from one flower with many separate pistils/carpels
• Aggregate Fruits

  • strawberries
  • raspberries
  • blackberries
• Multiple Fruits


  Develop from ovaries of several flowers borne/fused together on the same stalk
• Changes During Ripening

  • Softening of fruit
  • Color changes
  • Increase in sweetness
  • Triggered by ethylene
• Climacteric Fruits


  Produce high levels of ethylene during ripening; can ripen after harvest
• Non-Climacteric Fruits


  Ripen only while attached to the mother plant
• Dispersal spreads progeny to colonize new environments, reduces competition for resources with parents, and decreases the chances of predators destroying all of the plant’s yearly seed production
• Types of Dispersal

  • Self Dispersal (Autochory)
  • Wind Dispersal (Anemochory)
  • Water Dispersal (Hydrochory)
  • Animal Dispersal (Zoochory)
• Self Dispersal (Autochory)


  Forceful ejection or geocarpic mechanisms
• Wind Dispersal (Anemochory)


  Seeds or fruits are carried by the wind
• Wind Dispersal

  • dandelion
  • maple seeds
• Water Dispersal (Hydrochory)

  Seeds or fruits use flotation devices to travel by water
• Animal Dispersal (Zoochory)

  Seeds are transported by animals either externally (exozoic) or internally (endozoic)
• Eudicot Seeds


  • Common garden bean includes hypocotyl
  • radicle
  • thick cotyledons
• Monocot Seeds

  • Maize has a single cotyledon
  • coleoptile
  • coleorhiza
• Causes of Seedless Fruits

  • Pollination failure
  • Chromosomal imbalance
  • Application of auxin
• Seedless Fruits

  • bananas
  • seedless watermelons
  • tomatoes
  • cucumbers