The seeds and fruits of plants, resulting from the flowering of angiosperms, are striking in their diversity. Dry boxes of poppy, juicy tomato berry, aromatic peach drupe ... It’s quite difficult to figure out such a variety, but it’s possible.
What is a fetus?
This generative organ responsible for sexual reproduction is a modified flower of plants, consisting of a seed and pericarp. It is he who serves as a reliable seed protection and in the classic version consists of three layers. For example, in peach and other representatives of the Rosaceae family, the outer one is represented by a leathery film. The middle layer is juicy, sweet and fleshy. And the inner one turned into a bone, which reliably covers the seed inside. They reliably protect plant seeds. The structure of the fruits is interconnected with their functions.
Classification
Fruits are grouped in several ways. By the number of seeds, they are single-seeded and multi-seeded. And depending on the structure of the pericarp, they are dry and juicy. So, peas are a dry multi-seeded bean. And the drupe cherry is a juicy and single-seeded fruit .
Juicy fruit
This variety is known to everyone thanks to the valuable taste of pericarp. Among them, several types are distinguished. Drupe, which got its name due to the presence of seeds, is formed by plums, cherries, cherry plums. Pumpkin cucumber and pumpkin has a brightly colored outer layer with a characteristic pattern.
What plants have the fruit "berry"? Gooseberries, black and red currants, blueberries.
But the same type of fruit has potatoes. Its tubers, which are eaten, are confused with the fruits very often. Berry is also a favorite tomato.
Small nuts of strawberries and strawberries are surrounded in a juicy overgrown receptacle. A typical structure has an apple. Its type of fetus is of the same name. Several seeds are first surrounded by membranous chambers, and then by the middle juicy layer of pericarp. Outside they are protected by a leathery outer layer with a bright, clearly visible color. An apple as a type of fruit can be seen in pears, quinces and mountain ash.
Dry fruits
But representatives of this type are more valued for the valuable qualities of seeds than pericarp. It's clear. All three of its layers are either densely fused into one, or are themselves leathery, without valuable nutritional properties. But the seeds of dried fruits are a storehouse of vegetable oils, amino acids and vitamins.
There is also a classification that is based on the ability of the pericarp to clear.
So, the corn plant has non-opening fruits. The type of its fruit is called caryopsis. He has all the layers of the pericarp fused to the skin of the seed. Therefore, in fact, no "disclosure" is simply impossible.
But the pod of the well-known shepherd’s bag, like a gate, opens the pericarp folds. As a result, the septum with seeds becomes unprotected.
Thus, each dry fruit can be characterized from three positions. Single-seeded, dry, unopened walnut fruits. The ossified shell protects it reliably enough from any adverse environmental conditions.
Dry polyspermous non-opening fruits in plants can be found not often. This is easy to explain. Plants with a large number of seeds are more likely to maintain their species diversity. Therefore, the owners without fear "release" their fruits. If the seed is one, then it requires more reliable protection. Therefore, it is under the reliable cover of a dense and strong pericarp.
Popping fruit
Plants with this type of dry fruit are reliably adapted for independent distribution in nature. A box of poppies during ripening begins to crack, and the seeds, without outside interference, fall into the soil. Violet fruits crack in the same way. Seeds of cabbage and mustard are clearly visible when opening their pods. In the same way, all legumes are in the soil: peas, beans, clover.
Interesting fact. This is not to say that the plant that is called mad cucumber has a non-revealing fruit . After all, the fruit is juicy. However, ripening, he seems to shoot seeds, spraying them throughout the county.
Non-revealing fruit
Examples of them can be found both in the forest (hazel) and in the field (wheat). In nature, it is easy to notice plants whose dry fruits almost always remain on the shoot. They are not opening.
The pericarp of such fruits is always closed. Sometimes a person should even make some efforts to reveal it. The non-revealing fruit has a maple plant. Its seeds are equipped with two blades like wings. From the branch the maple fruit (whose name is lionfish) comes off only when its stalk becomes dry. Then the wind picks up the seeds and they circle in the air like a helicopter.
It is worth saying that the structure of any type of fruit is due to the need to protect the seeds, on the one hand, and to spread them on the other. Non-opening fruits has a plant that better performs the function of protection, and distributes the seeds in additional ways. So, the winged birch nut is easily carried even by the smallest wind, and burdock seeds have special trailers with which they are attached to animal hair or to human clothes. Moving, they spread burdock without knowing it. That's how everything in nature works - wisely and without frills.