Fruits & Seeds
Look around your kitchen at home, and you will probably find lots of different fruits and seeds. Apples, bananas and mangoes are fruits, and so are the berries used to make jam and the tomatoes in tomato sauce. Besides the sesame seeds on burger buns and the seeds that gardeners buy, various kinds of seeds are used to make all kinds of useful products, like flour, coffee and sunflower oil. But what are fruits and seeds, and where do they come from?
MAKING NEW PLANTS
Plants grow seeds in order to reproduce, or make new plants. Each seed has the potential to grow into a new, full-sized plant like the plant it came from. So an acorn can become an oak tree, a grape pip can grow into a grapevine and poppy seeds can become new poppy plants.
Fruits are soft, fleshy coverings that surround some types of seeds. That is why a typical fruit such as an apple or a lemon has seeds (the pips) inside it.
WHERE DO FRUITS AND SEEDS COME FROM?
Fruits and seeds are made by a plant’s flowers. First of all, for a seed to form, a flower has to be fertilized. This happens when a grain of pollen, which is a type of male plant cell, joins up with a tiny female part of a flower called an ovule. After fertilization, the ovule starts to grow into a seed.
A flower’s ovules are stored inside a fleshy plant part called the ovary. In some plants, such as tomatoes, when the seeds start to form, the ovary around them swells up and gets thicker, becoming a soft, juicy fruit that surrounds the seeds.
In other plants, such as pears, the fruit is formed from another part of the plant called the receptacle. This is the thickened end of the stalk that the flower is attached to. When the seeds form, the receptacle swells up and turns into a fruit.
HOW DO SEEDS WORK?
Once a plant has made seeds, it releases them so that they can start growing into new plants. For example, on an apple tree, the apples containing the seeds drop off the tree onto the ground. On a dandelion, the seeds grow fluffy “parachutes” made of tiny hairs, so that when the plant lets them go they can float away on the wind. Most plants make lots and lots of seeds because not all of them will have a chance to grow into new plants. Only those that land on good soil, where there is plenty of sunlight and moisture to feed them, will be able to germinate (start growing).
INSIDE A SEED
A typical seed has three main parts. The embryo is the part that will become the new plant. The seed also contains a store of high-energy food to feed the embryo when it first starts to grow. (This food store is the reason seeds make such a good food for humans and other animals.) One or more parts called cotyledon help the new plant to grow by soaking up the food and passing it to the embryo.
When a seed starts to grow, the first thing it does is to put out a tiny root, which grows downward. Then the plant’s stalk starts to grow upward. Gradually, the root and the stalk both grow new offshoots, forming the plant’s root system, branches and leaves.
WHAT ARE FRUITS FOR?
The fruit surrounding a seed can help the seed find a good place to grow. How? By being eaten! A sweet, fleshy fruit makes a delicious meal for many types of animals. Birds eat berries, monkeys and bats love rainforest fruits such as guavas and humans gobble up apples and tomatoes. Fruit is a nutritious food, but the seeds inside are often very hard and pass through the animal’s gut without being digested. So they come out in the animal’s droppings and land on the ground, ready to start growing. By the time this happens, the animal is probably a long way away from the plant that the fruit originally came from. In this way, different plant species can spread their seeds over a wide area, so they are more likely to grow and survive.
CONES
Some plants, such as conifer trees, do not have flowers or fruits. Instead their seeds grow inside hard, scaly cones that open out to release the seeds when they are ripe. In biology, plants that grow flowers and fruits are called angiosperms, while plants that grow cones are called gymnosperms.
SEED DISPERSAL
The way a plant spreads its seeds around is known as seed dispersal. Most seeds float away on the wind, or rely on being eaten by animals. But a few plants have more unusual seed dispersal methods. Squirting cucumbers explode when they are ripe, firing their seeds several metres through the air. Some plants grow sticky coatings or tiny hooks so that they stick to animals’ fur, or people’s sweaters, and get carried far away. Some plants that grow by the sea, such as coconut palms, have floating seeds or fruits that can get washed away by the tide and carried to other lands.
FRUIT, SEEDS AND HUMANS
Fruit and seeds make up a major part of our diet. Seeds form many staple foods—the basic foods that keep most of us alive, such as rice, millet, oats, corn and wheat that is used to make bread. We also eat hundreds of types of fruits. Besides things like apples and oranges, many foodstuffs that we call vegetables are actually fruits too, including tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, olives, peppers and squashes. Beans, peas and nuts are also types of fruit and seeds. And fruits and seeds have other amazing uses too: grapes are made into wine, some larger seeds are made into jewellery and musical instruments, and various different types of seed oils are used to make cosmetics, paints and medicines. Thanks to all these uses, a huge amount of the world’s farming is based around cultivating plants to produce fruit and seeds.
Did you know? ||~ ||
• The biggest seed in the world comes from the Seychelles Island palm tree, which grows on the Seychelles Islands, in the Indian Ocean, and is known as the coco-de-mer seed. It grows up to 30 centimetres across and weighs around 16 kilograms.
• Buses can run on seeds! Some bus engines use rapeseed oil, squeezed out of the seeds of the rape plant, as their fuel.
• One type of specialist coffee is made from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of an animal called a palm civet, and have then been collected from its droppings.
vc
Plants grow seeds in order to reproduce, or make new plants. Each seed has the potential to grow into a new, full-sized plant like the plant it came from. So an acorn can become an oak tree, a grape pip can grow into a grapevine and poppy seeds can become new poppy plants.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
2. backround oPeaches are the fruit of the peach tree, a deciduous orchard tree of the rose family. Peach trees are believed to be native to China, and grow in temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. More than 300 varieties of peaches are currently cultivated. A relatively short-lived plant, the peach tree has an average orchard life of seven to nine years
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. f fruit
3. what the fruit looks like.( peach )
Fruits & Seeds
Look around your kitchen at home, and you will probably find lots of different fruits and seeds. Apples, bananas and mangoes are fruits, and so are the berries used to make jam and the tomatoes in tomato sauce. Besides the sesame seeds on burger buns and the seeds that gardeners buy, various kinds of seeds are used to make all kinds of useful products, like flour, coffee and sunflower oil. But what are fruits and seeds, and where do they come from?
MAKING NEW PLANTS
Plants grow seeds in order to reproduce, or make new plants. Each seed has the potential to grow into a new, full-sized plant like the plant it came from. So an acorn can become an oak tree, a grape pip can grow into a grapevine and poppy seeds can become new poppy plants.
Fruits are soft, fleshy coverings that surround some types of seeds. That is why a typical fruit such as an apple or a lemon has seeds (the pips) inside it.
WHERE DO FRUITS AND SEEDS COME FROM?
Fruits and seeds are made by a plant’s flowers. First of all, for a seed to form, a flower has to be fertilized. This happens when a grain of pollen, which is a type of male plant cell, joins up with a tiny female part of a flower called an ovule. After fertilization, the ovule starts to grow into a seed.
A flower’s ovules are stored inside a fleshy plant part called the ovary. In some plants, such as tomatoes, when the seeds start to form, the ovary around them swells up and gets thicker, becoming a soft, juicy fruit that surrounds the seeds.
In other plants, such as pears, the fruit is formed from another part of the plant called the receptacle. This is the thickened end of the stalk that the flower is attached to. When the seeds form, the receptacle swells up and turns into a fruit.
HOW DO SEEDS WORK?
Once a plant has made seeds, it releases them so that they can start growing into new plants. For example, on an apple tree, the apples containing the seeds drop off the tree onto the ground. On a dandelion, the seeds grow fluffy “parachutes” made of tiny hairs, so that when the plant lets them go they can float away on the wind. Most plants make lots and lots of seeds because not all of them will have a chance to grow into new plants. Only those that land on good soil, where there is plenty of sunlight and moisture to feed them, will be able to germinate (start growing).
INSIDE A SEED
A typical seed has three main parts. The embryo is the part that will become the new plant. The seed also contains a store of high-energy food to feed the embryo when it first starts to grow. (This food store is the reason seeds make such a good food for humans and other animals.) One or more parts called cotyledon help the new plant to grow by soaking up the food and passing it to the embryo.
When a seed starts to grow, the first thing it does is to put out a tiny root, which grows downward. Then the plant’s stalk starts to grow upward. Gradually, the root and the stalk both grow new offshoots, forming the plant’s root system, branches and leaves.
WHAT ARE FRUITS FOR?
The fruit surrounding a seed can help the seed find a good place to grow. How? By being eaten! A sweet, fleshy fruit makes a delicious meal for many types of animals. Birds eat berries, monkeys and bats love rainforest fruits such as guavas and humans gobble up apples and tomatoes. Fruit is a nutritious food, but the seeds inside are often very hard and pass through the animal’s gut without being digested. So they come out in the animal’s droppings and land on the ground, ready to start growing. By the time this happens, the animal is probably a long way away from the plant that the fruit originally came from. In this way, different plant species can spread their seeds over a wide area, so they are more likely to grow and survive.
CONES
Some plants, such as conifer trees, do not have flowers or fruits. Instead their seeds grow inside hard, scaly cones that open out to release the seeds when they are ripe. In biology, plants that grow flowers and fruits are called angiosperms, while plants that grow cones are called gymnosperms.
SEED DISPERSAL
The way a plant spreads its seeds around is known as seed dispersal. Most seeds float away on the wind, or rely on being eaten by animals. But a few plants have more unusual seed dispersal methods. Squirting cucumbers explode when they are ripe, firing their seeds several metres through the air. Some plants grow sticky coatings or tiny hooks so that they stick to animals’ fur, or people’s sweaters, and get carried far away. Some plants that grow by the sea, such as coconut palms, have floating seeds or fruits that can get washed away by the tide and carried to other lands.
FRUIT, SEEDS AND HUMANS
Fruit and seeds make up a major part of our diet. Seeds form many staple foods—the basic foods that keep most of us alive, such as rice, millet, oats, corn and wheat that is used to make bread. We also eat hundreds of types of fruits. Besides things like apples and oranges, many foodstuffs that we call vegetables are actually fruits too, including tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, olives, peppers and squashes. Beans, peas and nuts are also types of fruit and seeds. And fruits and seeds have other amazing uses too: grapes are made into wine, some larger seeds are made into jewellery and musical instruments, and various different types of seed oils are used to make cosmetics, paints and medicines. Thanks to all these uses, a huge amount of the world’s farming is based around cultivating plants to produce fruit and seeds.
Did you know? ||~ ||
4.where peaches grows
Fruits and seeds are made by a plant’s flowers. First of all, for a seed to form, a flower has to be fertilized. This happens when a grain of pollen, which is a type of male plant cell, joins up with a tiny female part of a flower called an ovule. After fertilization, the ovule starts to grow into a seed.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
5. HOW it grows.
Fruits and seeds are made by a plant’s flowers. First of all, for a seed to form, a flower has to be fertilized. This happens when a grain of pollen, which is a type of male plant cell, joins up with a tiny female part of a flower called an ovule. After fertilization, the ovule starts to grow into a seed.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
6. special fetures on peaches or special things it can be used for.
7. special info on the fruit ( peaches )