Tag Archives: fruit

The Truth behind Fruit and Pollen…

No it’s not, it’s an inflamed plant ovary with baby plants inside of it.

Image result for pollen grain

That’s not just pollen on those anthers, that’s plant sperm.

We’re well into spring, and I haven’t done another science related thing.  My teacher had reminded me of these facts, so yeah.  Today, we look at the biology of fruits and pollen.

Yes, the claims I made before are actually true.  Firstly, fruits evolved to attract animals to eat them.  The animals get food, so what do the plants get?  Well normally, the animals would eat the seeds inside the fruit, and then as the seeds go through the digestive system and eventually come out, they get fertilized, and take the excess compounds from the feces.  So it’s a win-win for both parties, and is a mutualistic relationship.  Now, where are eggs stored in plants and animals?  Ovaries…and fruiting plants don’t have a uterus like we do, so yeah, that’s what we’re eating.  Vegetables are different, but I don’t think the same holds true for veggies anyways.

Pollen is indeed plant sperm.  All plants utilize pollen for this aspect, but have different ways of carrying it.  Pollen is often sticky or very light and can travel with the wind.  The anthers, the pollen producing and male part of a plant, is where pollen is.  The plant sperm will fertilize a plant egg like any other organism does.  Weirdly enough, two sperm can be required instead of one, because one of the sperms fuses with an extra egg to create a nutrient type thing for the actual plant zygote.  Yep, you could say it’s cannibalism.

Well that was probably a terrible explanation, but that about does it for me.  Have fun with those new facts I guess.  Use them how you want to.