Book 29, Question 37
How does a flower become a fruit?
When pollen from a flower reaches the female part, a tube grows down and joins with a tiny egg cell inside the flower's base.
This is fertilization. The base, called the ovary, swells and ripens, turning into a fruit that holds seeds. The petals fade because their job is done. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins are all fruits that began as flowers.
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Quick answers
How does a flower become a fruit?
A pollen grain on the stigma grows a tiny tube, all the way down the style to the ovary.
Source: sciencelearn.org.nz
More fun facts
- Multiple fruits, such as pineapple, form from a cluster of flowers called an inflorescence.
- Accessory fruit, like the apple, are formed from a part of the plant other than the ovary.
- Simple fruits, such as these nuts, are derived from a single ovary.
- Flowers have different shapes, colours and smells, and often sugary nectar and nutritious pollen, to encourage animals to visit and pollinate them.
- Wind-pollinated flowers are shaped to make it easy for the wind to pick up or deposit pollen.
Sources: CUNY, sciencelearn.org.nz