1. Fruits and Their Dispersal
How Plants Get Around

2. Fruits
Fruit is an ovary and its accessory parts that have developed and matured.
Usually contains seeds.
All fruits develop from flower ovaries and accordingly are found exclusively in flowering plants.

3. Fruits Fruit Regions Exocarp - Skin
Endocarp - Inner boundary around seed(s).
Mesocarp - Fleshy tissue between exocarp and endocarp.
Three regions are collectively called the pericarp.

4. Drupes Multiple Fruits Types of Fleshy Fruits Berries Aggregate Fruits
hesperidium
pepo
pome
Multiple Fruits

5. Fruits
Fleshy Fruits
Simple fleshy fruits develop from a flower with a single pistil.
Drupe - Simple fleshy fruit with a single seed enclosed by a hard, stony endocarp, or pit.
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6. Fruits
Berry - Usually develops from a compound ovary and often contains more than one seed.
True berry is a fruit with a thin skin and a relatively soft pericarp.
Pepos - Relatively thick rinds (Pumpkins).
Hesperidium - Leathery skin containing oils (Citrus).
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8. Fruits
Pomes - Bulk of flesh comes from enlarged floral tube or receptacle that grows up around the ovary. (Apples)
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9. Dry Fruits that Split Dry Fruits that Do Not follicle legume silique
capsule
achene
nuts
caryopsis
samara
shizocarp
Dry Fruits that Do Not

10. Fruits Dry Fruits That Split at Maturity (Dehiscent)
Follicle - Splits along one side or seam.
Legume - Splits along two sides or seams.
Silique - Splits along two sides or seams, but seeds are borne on central partition exposed when the two halves separate.
Capsules - Consist of at least two carpels, and split in a variety of ways.

11. Peas and Bean Pods are Legumes
Milkweed Pod is a Follicle
Follicles split on one side
Peas and Bean Pods are Legumes
Legumes split on 2 sides

12. Capsules split on more than 2 sides
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Capsules split on more than 2 sides
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Required for Reproduction or Display
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Required for Reproduction or Display

13. Siliques and Silicles

14. Fruits Dry Fruits That Do Not Split at Maturity (Indehiscent) Achene
Nut
Grain
Samara
Schizocarp
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15. The fruits of grasses are called Caryopsis

16. Maple and Elm Fruits are called
Milkweed follicle
Elm
Maple and Elm Fruits are called
Samaras
Elm
Maple

17. Wild Carrot
Queen Anne’s Lace

18. Fruits Aggregate Fruits Multiple Fruits
Derived from a single flower with several to many pistils.
Individual pistils mature as a clustered unit on a single receptacle
Raspberries, Strawberry.
Multiple Fruits
Derived from several to many individual flowers in a single inflorescence.
Mulberries, Pineapples, Figs

19. Raspberries, Blackberries are Multiples
They are fruits derived from flowers with multiple ovaries

20. Aggregate Fruits: Mulberry The fruit is from an aggregate of flowers
Pistillate flowers

21. Aggregate Fruits: Pineapple The fruit is from an aggregate of flowers

22. Strawberries are Accessory Fruits
The fruit develops from as accessory part of the flower; the receptacle

23. Fruits serve many functions in the plant world
Food source for the germinating seedling
Plants need to get around. They do this with their fruits. Adaptations for dispersal

24. Fruit and Seed Dispersal
Physical Carriers
Wind Dispersal
Small and Lightweight seeds.
Water Dispersal
Some fruits contain trapped air.
Mechanical Ejection of Seeds

28. Coconuts are Water Dispersed

29. Fruit and Seed Dispersal
Biological Carriers
Animal Dispersal
Seeds pass through digestive tract.
Fruits and seeds catch in fur or feathers.
Oils attract ants.

31. How Ripened Fruits Attract Animals
Softer, easier to digest
More fragrant
Brightly colored
Increase in sugar content is a source of carbohydrates (reward)

32. Pithecellobium oblongum fruit shows some of the traits often found in the fruits of bird-dispersed seeds
This image of a ripe dehiscent Pithecellobium oblongum fruit shows some of the traits often found in the fruits of bird-dispersed seeds. The fruit wall is red as a flag for visibility at a distance (remember the red hummingbird-pollinated flowers). Closer up, the black seed contrasts strongly with both the red fruit and the white edible aril on its top (the aril is an outgrowth of the ovary wall, normally covering all or part of the seed as bait for the dispersal agent, especially when the fruit wall (ovary) itself is either a flag or purely protective). The bird snatches the seed+aril in flight and either swallows the entire unit (to later defecate or regurgitate the seed) or picks off the sweet aril and drops the seed.

33. Fruits and Dispersal
Fruits remain distasteful to most animals (including humans) until they are ripe
This ensures that the fruit will not be eaten until the seeds are mature

34. Animal Dispersal Long distance dispersal by birds:
fruits and seeds trapped in the mud on their feet
Seeds released in excrement
Animals eat fruit, the seeds pass through the digestive tract.
Scarification by digestive enzymes is necessary for germination

35. Mechanical Ejection Geranium fruit exploding Legume (Pea seeds)
A combination of ejection and
attraction

36. Mechanical Ejection
Impatiens Fruit Exploding

37. What does this fruit want?
Wild Cucumber