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All plants produce fruits that contain their seeds. Some
fruits are dry husks, but others are juicy and tasty. These
attract animals, which eat them and carry the seeds in
their stomachs. The tough-skinned seeds are not digested,
but are scattered far away from the parent plant in the
animals’ droppings, and grow into new plants. The fruits
shown here are cultivated types that have been specially
bred for their size and flavour.Fruits
(^1) ORANGE
An orange has very soft juicy flesh
contained in many segments, which
are enclosed by a hard rind. Each
segment usually contains a seed, or
pip. An orange is technically a type of
berry, which develops over the winter
from the single ovary of an orange
flower. Green at first, it turns
orange as it swells to full size.
(^2) BANANA
The bananas that are cultivated
in the tropics have been bred to
be seedless, but the wild bananas
of southeast Asia have small fruits
containing many big, hard seeds.
They grow in bunches on large
plants with huge leaves that
sprout straight from the ground.
(^3) NUTS
All nuts are large seeds, which
the plant has equipped with a
store of concentrated plant food.
This ensures that the seedlings
get a good start in life. The nut is
surrounded by a hard shell, which
is technically a fruit, but tough and
fibrous rather than soft and juicy.
(^4) DURIAN
To attract fruit-eating mammals,
many fruits are fragrant. The
southeast Asian durian fruit is
famous for its strong aroma, which
some people like and others hate.
Animals such as forest pigs and
orang-utans seem to love both
its smell and taste.
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