Plants are incredibly beneficial to the world and all living beings. Plants use their leaves to collect carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which humans and other animals need to breathe. Plants are necessary for life; they eat them and live in them. Plants also help in the purification of water.
Plants mainly come in two categories: flowering and non-flowering. The process of reproduction is the primary distinction between flowering and non-flowering plants. Non-flowering plants rely on dispersion to continue their life cycle, whereas flowering plants rely on pollination for reproduction.
How Are Fruits Formed?
The fruit, in scientific terminology, is the seed-bearing portion of the plant that forms after fertilization. Flowers must bloom before developing fruit so that the male and female organs can grow and produce pollen and receptive ovules.
The stamens create pollen within the flower, whereas the female ovules from inside the pistil. You can find male stamens and female pistils in the same flower. However, blossoms can sometimes develop into male or female units on different plants.
For fertilization to occur in most blooming plants, pollen must travel to another plant of the same species. This mechanism ensures that the offspring’s genetic makeup is not identical to that of their parents. Insects and wind are the two most prevalent ways for pollen to go from one plant to another. Self-pollination is uncommon, but it does happen on occasion.
When pollen reaches the stigma at the top of the pistil, it must travel down a pollen tube to the pistil’s base to find a receptive ovule, which is the female genetic material inside the ovary. When pollen lands on an ovule, the male and female genetic material merges to form an embryo, which grows into a seed.
The embryo’s cells regularly grow once it has formed. Botanists refer to the embryo as a zygote, once it has progressed beyond the two-cell stage. The zygote develops in size over time. Cell differentiation occurs eventually, and the zygote transforms into a seed.
The ovary begins developing into a fruit, and the ovules begin to generate seeds after the zygote starts to expand. The ovary and pistil’s exterior walls become the fruit’s skin. In other circumstances, such as the apple and pear, a fleshy and edible material develops outside the ovary wall and becomes the fruit’s edible section.
The outer covering comprises petals, sepals, and bracts, and it protects the fleshy substance. In either instance, fruit grows as long as the plant does. But when the fruit ripens or the plant stays dormant for the winter, the fruit falls.
Why Non-Flowering Plants Have No Fruits?
The process of reproduction is the primary distinction between flowering and non-flowering plants. Non-flowering plants rely on dispersion to continue their life cycle, whereas flowering plants rely on pollination for reproduction. Non-flowering plants reproduce by spores, whereas flowering plants develop flowers and reproduce through seeds.
Spores are microscopic plant parts that help them reproduce. If the plant is lucky, the spores will be carried away by the wind, allowing another plant to grow. Inadequate pollination is one of the reasons why plants do not produce fruit. Pollination is required for most food crops to produce fruit or seeds. When plants have no flowers, pollination cannot occur, so they cannot bear fruit.
