Chapter 8

Flowers, Fruits, and

Seeds
 OVERVIEW
• INRODUCTION
• FLOWERS
• CHARACTERISTICS OF FLOWERS
• 2 MAJOR CLASSES OF FLOWERING PLANTS
(MONOCOTS AND DICOTS)
• STRUCTURE OF A FLOWER
• FRUITS
• DEVELOPMENT OF FRUITS
• FRUIT REGIONS
• CHARACTERISTICS OF FRUITS
• KINDS OF FRUITS
• FRUIT AND SEED DISPERSAL
• STRUCTURE OF A SEED
• SEED GERMINATION
Introduction…
• There are more or less 250, 000 species of
known flowering plants.
• 11 species (10 of them members of the Grass
family, Poaceae) provide 80% of world’s food.
• Flowers range in size.
Introduction

Australian orchid (Rhizanthelia

gardneri)
-produced by plants which complete
their life cycle underground
• first known underground plant, stumbled
upon by an Australian farmer while
plowing the fields. It was pale and had no
chlorophyll.
•Underground plants complete their entire
cycle underground.
 Flowers differ in size
Examples:
a.) duckweed:
-minute flowers of little to more than 0.1
mm long
and 0.5-0.7 mm wide.

b.) Rafflesia:
-enormous flower which is 1 m in
diameter and
weigh 9 kg.
 Some folowers are rare
e.g. Corpse Flower
- less than a hundred record in history
- a unique species that produce an interesting bloom
called “inflorescence” which is 2 m tall.
- it’s large and smells like rotten flesh to which carrion
beetles are attracted to.

Carrion beetle-
pollinator

Corpse flower
(Amorphophallus titanum)
Introduction…

• There are enormous varieties of floral structures.

• Widely varying habitats of flowering plants:
from freshwater to salt water, from deserts to
jungles.
• Life Cycle of flowering plants:
▫ Annual plants- complete their life cycle in one
season
▫ Biennial plants- complete their life cycle in 2 years
▫ Perennial plants- life cycle is completed in more
than 2 years and may flower in various times.
 Differences Between Dicots and
Monocots
• 2 major classes of flowering plants:
▫ Magnoliopsida (previously known as
Dicotyledonae)
▫ Liliopsida (previosly known as Monocotyledonae)
Differences Between Dicots and
Monocots
DICOTS MONOCOTS

Seeds with 2 cotyledons Seeds with 1 cotyledon

Flower parts in fours or fives or Flower parts in threes or multiples of

multiples of these. this.
Leaf with netted veins Leaf with parallel veins

Vascular cambium and cork cambium Vascular cambium and cork cambium
present. absent
Vascular bundles of stem arranged in a Vascular bundles of stem in a
ring scattered arrangement.
Pollen grains in 3 apertures Pollen grains with 1 aperture
Structure of Flowers

Ovules present in ovary

Ovules mature into seeds
Structure of Flowers
Structure of Flowers
Structure of Flowers
 Structure of Flowers
• Flower Clusters (inflorescences)
 Structure of Flowers
• Flower Clusters (inflorescences)
 Fruits
• Introduction
▫ 1. fruits vs. vegetables
 Example of the tomato and US Supreme Court case
▫ 2. fruit defined
 A ripened ovary; may include accessory parts such as
receptacle
 Usually contains seed
 All fruits develop from flower ovaries and accordingly are
found exclusively in flowering plants
 Fertilization- indirectly determines whether or not the ovary
or ovaries (and sometimes the receptacle or
 other tissues) of a flower will develop into a fruit
 Hormones- in pollen grains initiate fruit development
Exception is cultivated banana, fruits develop
 without fertilization (parthenocarpic)
 Fruits
•
 Fruits
• Fruit Regions
▫ Fruit wall- pericarp
▫ Pericarp consists of 3
regions:
 Exocarp- skin of fruit
 Mesocarp- tissue
between exocarp and
endocarp
 Endocarp- inner
boundary surrounding
the seeds
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Fruits
Dehiscent Fruits
Indehiscent Fruits
Indehiscent Fruits
Indehiscent Fruits
Aggregate Fruits
• Fruit and Seed Dispersal
• Other Dispersal Mechanisms and
Agents
▫ mechanically eject seeds, sometimes
with considerable force. Ex: splitting
action of drying witch hazel capsules
may fling the seeds over 12 meters
away.
▫ heat of a warm-blooded animal
coming close to the plants. Ex: Fruits
of dwarf mistletoes
▫ sensitive to changes in humidity. Ex:
filarees and other members of the
Geranium Family
Fruits derived from a
single flower with
several to many pistils

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fruits derived from several
to many individual flowers
in a single inflorescence

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One-seeded fruit and the
pericarp is harder

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The pericarp is tightly
united with the seed and
cannot be separated from
the seed

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The pericarp surrounding
the seed extends out in the
form of a wing or
membrane

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Representative fruit
under pome

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tomatoes, grapes,
blueberries, and and
bananas are example of
_____________

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pumpkins and
cucumber are fruits
which are ________

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type of ovary in which
sepals, petals, and stamens
are attached below the
ovary

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flowers begin as
____________

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