Biology Unit 4 - Topic 20 - Seeds

 What happens after Fertilization?

After fertilization, a zygote forms, grows, and feeds inside the ovary.  The result is the plant embryo encased in a structure called a seed.

It is not until after the ovile has been fertilized, that it becomes a seed.

Guess What!

1.- Fruit that we eat start out as flowers!

2.- The fruit is the fully developed ovary.  They usually contain one or more seeds.

3.- When the ovary becomes a fruit, the flower falls off.

4.- The "juicy part" is there to protect the seed inside it.

Some fruits are plump and juicy like oranges, apples, and peaches;  others are hard and dry, like nuts.

What part of these fruits do we usually eat?  The protection? The seeds?   Both?  

🍎 We Eat the Protection (Flesh/Outer Part):

These fruits have seeds, but we usually eat only the fleshy, protective part around them.

• Apple

• Peach

• Mango

• Plum

• Pear

• Watermelon (we eat the flesh, not the seeds)

• Papaya (usually the flesh, not the seeds)

• Cherry

• Avocado (we eat the flesh, not the big seed)

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🌰 We Eat the Seeds:

These fruits may have outer layers, but we mainly eat the seed itself.

• Almond

• Walnut

• Pecan

• Cashew

• Pistachio

• Sunflower seeds

• Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

• Brazil nuts

👉 Note: Many of these are technically fruits or come from fruiting plants, even though we call them "nuts" or "seeds."

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🍇 We Eat Both Protection and Seeds:

These are fruits where we typically eat both the outer part and the seeds inside.

• Grape (with seeds, though seedless ones are popular)

• Fig

• Passion fruit

• Pomegranate

• Tomato

• Cucumber

• Strawberry (tiny seeds on the outside)

• Kiwi (tiny seeds eaten with the flesh)

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Let's talk biggest and smallest seeds in fruits:

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🥇 Biggest Seed in a Common Fruit:

🥑 Avocado

• The seed (or pit) can take up a large part of the fruit — sometimes up to 50% of the fruit’s volume!

• Fun fact: Some varieties of mango also have very large seeds, but the avocado pit is generally rounder and bulkier.

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🥇 Smallest Seeds in Fruits:

🍓 Strawberry

• The tiny yellow or brown dots on the outside are achenes, which are technically the fruit — each one contains a tiny seed inside.

• These are among the smallest seeds in common fruits — you can barely feel them when you eat them!

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Seed Dispersal

Without seed dispersal, some plants would not have the ability to reproduce.

Some dispersal methods are:

I hope you enjoyed this great topic!

See you in our next blog!

Love, 

Miss Ana