When the fruits of a flowering plant are ripe, the seeds are released. If all the seeds were drop beneath the parent plant, overcrowding would occur. The young plants would have compete with one another and the parent plant for water,light,nutrients and space.
To prevent overcrowding, plants disperse their seeds with the help of wind,water or animals so that the seeds will be scattered far from the parent plants and the other seeds. Some plants split their fruits open with an explosive force to disperse their seeds.
Between the pong pong fruit and the durian fruit, can you tell how their seeds are dispersed by wind, water or animals from their characteristics?
Besides protecting the seeds, fruits also help plants to disperse their seeds.
After pollination, each pollen grain will develop a tiny tube which grows down towards the ovary to meet the egg in the ovule.
The nucleus of the male reproduction cell fuses with the egg. The fusion of a male reproductive cell with an egg to form a fertilised egg is called fertilisation.
After fertilisation, the petals and the parts which help in pollination wither and drop off. The ovary develops into a fruit, while the ovules inside the ovary develop into seeds. These seeds carry the fertilised eggs and will eventually develop into new plants. The fruit carries and protects the seeds until they are released when the fruit is ripe.
