Seeds & Fruit

Seeds and Fruits
Types & Dispersal
copyright cmassengale
Seeds and Fruit
• Fruits are formed by
seed plants to aid in
dispersing seeds
• A seed contains the
developing plant embryo
in a protective coat
(testa)
• Seeds form from ovules
fertilized in the ovary
• Ovaries with seeds ripen
into dry or fleshy fruits
Parts of a Seed
• External seed coat or testa
• Developing plant embryo
• Stored food called endosperm
• Seeds may be in one part (monocot) or
two parts (dicots)
DICOT
MONOCOT
Parts of a Seed
Gymnosperm Seed
• A single fertilization produces the
diploid (2n) embryo
• The food source is the haploid
megagametophyte
Flowering plant seed
In angiosperms (flowering plants)
there is
DOUBLE _______________
Which produces a diploid ________(2n)
and,
A triploid (3n) __________
Endosperm is the
food source
Dicot vs. monocot seed
Dicot has two
cotyledons (like
bean)
Endosperm (food) is
kept in the _________
Monocot has one

__________ which
absorbs the
endosperm tissue
during germination
(corn)
Fruit
In flowering plants – Fruit is a mature,
ripened o_____ that contains the seeds
Pericarp – the ovary wall ovary
Fruit types
A. Simple
B. Aggregate
C. Multiple
A. Simple fruit
A. Simple fruit – develops from a ______
ovary of a single flower.
Simple fruits can be either fleshy or
dry when mature
Simple fleshy fruit
1. __________
2. _________
Simple fleshy fruit
1. Berry – entire fruit wall is
soft and fleshy at maturity.
Inside is slimy.
For example, grapes, tomato,
etc.
2. _______________ is a berry
with tough, leathery rind (peel)
Examples: oranges, lemons,
other citrus.
Simple fleshy fruit: drupe
3. _______ type – outer part of fruit
wall is soft and fleshy, inner part is
hard and stony
For example: ______________________
Simple fleshy fruit: pepo
4. ________ – also a fleshy fruit with a
tougher outer rind
All member of the squash family:
pumpkin, melons, cucumbers
Simple fleshy fruit: pome
5. Pomes: most of the fleshy part of
pomes develops from the enlarged
base of the perianth (corolla and calyx)
that has fused with the ovary wall
Pomes include ___________________
Simple dry fruit: capsule
Simple dry fruits are dry (not fleshy) at
maturity. Simple dry fruits that open at
maturity include: capsules and legumes
Capsule – fruit is dry at maturity and splits
open along several seams
Example: Cotton
Simple dry fruit: Legumes
Legumes are dry at maturity and split
open along _______ seams
Examples: pea pods, bean pods,
peanut
Simple dry fruits
Simple dry fruits that do NOT open
at maturity include
Caryopsis: seed coat is fused
to the ovary wall (cereal grains
like ____________________)
Nuts: single-ovary wall and

seed coat remain separate,
ovary wall is very hard
(acorns)
B. _____________
__________ fruit develops from one flower
with many separate pistils/carpels, all
ripening simultaneously
Examples: strawberry, raspberries,
blackberries
C. Multiple fruit
Multiple fruit develops from ovaries of
several flowers borne/fused
together on the same stalk
For example: ____________
What is the purpose of the fruit?
The main function of the fruit is to disperse the
seeds
Dispersal is important because
1. It spreads the progeny in order to colonize
new environments
2. Reduces ______________ for resources with
parents
3. Reduces the chances of predators destroying
all of the plant’s yearly seed production
Four types of seed dispersal:
A. Self dispersal
B. ______ dispersal
C. Water dispersal
D. _______ dispersal
A. Self dispersal
Plants disperse their seeds by forceful
ejection – explosive fruits!
Witch hazel, squirting cucumber (jet
propulsion)
Self dispersal
The peanut plant sows
(buries) its own seeds!
Geocarpic: carpel grows
inside the earth (soil)
B. Wind dispersal
Fruit and seeds may have special devices
for wind dispersal
Plumes catch wind currents: Dandelion
Trees take advantage of their great
heights for wind dispersal. Fruits with
wings are used to slow the descent to
land: maple, ash fruit
C. ___________ Dispersal
Fruits and/or seeds use flotation devices
to travel by water (in rivers, oceans,
etc.)
Fruit may have air spaces and corky
floats: for example ________________
D. Animal dispersal
Plants have _____________ with animals to
accomplish seed dispersal
Many plants depend on animals for seed
dispersal; they may offer a nutritional
reward
Animals learn to recognize ripened fruit
colors
Fleshy fruits eaten and dispersed
with feces
Animal dispersal
Some dry fruit attach and cling to
animals
(they hitchhike on the animals)
Some have Velcro-like hooks that cling
to animal fur (burdock, cockleburs)
Others have sticky substances that stick
to host (mistletoe)
Further Study on Seed
Dispersal
What carries the dandelion seeds for miles?
What feature of trees gives them a particular
advantage when dispersing seeds by air?
How does the squirting cucumber disperse its
seeds?
Although plants use wind and water, what do
most plants use as carriers for their seeds?
Blackberries on a tree do not ripen
simultaneously, why?
What plant do elephants help to disperse?
How do they do it? What percentage of
these seeds germinate in elephant dung?
Why?

Seeds & Fruit

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Seeds and Fruits

Types & Dispersal

Monocot has one

Nuts: single-ovary wall and

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