Biology Catherine Jackson, Block 2, 3-28-20

Anderson

Fruit and Seed Dissection

Introduction:
A fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants or angiosperms. It is formed from the
ovary after flowering. As a result, the term “fruit’ not only refers to the apples, pears, and plums that
are commonly found in the supermarket, but it also includes such things as string beans, peanuts,
tomatoes, chestnuts, and cucumbers.
In the life cycle of a flowering plant, the fruit is essential to the dispersal of seeds. Dispersal is
the action or process of distributing things or people over a wide area. Seed dispersal is important for
plants because it allows offspring to move away from their parents. This reduces competition for
resources among parents and offspring, which can lead to higher fitness.
There are several methods of seed dispersal. Animals may eat the fruit and thereby carry the
seeds far from the parent plant. The seeds often pass unchanged through the animal’s body. When
the seeds pass out of the animal’s body, they are dropped in places where they may germinate.
However, not all fruit are dispersed by animals. Some fruits burst open, thus releasing their enclosed
seeds and dispersing them some distance from the parent plant. Other fruits float in water and can
be carried hundreds of miles from where they originate. Still other fruits are adapted to being carried
by the wind.
Seeds develop from ovules inside the ovary or fruit. Seeds contain the plant embryo as well as
a food source for the embryo called the endosperm. The embryo and endosperm are protected by a
protective out layer called the seed coat.

 What is fruit? – formed in the over after flowering and bears seeds in angiosperms in flowering plants

 What is an angiosperm? – A plant that has flowers and produces seeds

 Why do angiosperms produce fruit? – Because the seeds is the way the population is able to increase by
dispersing the seeds

 Define dispersal. – disterbuting or spreading of something

 What are the benefits of dispersal? – ensures that the seed is distributed across areas an increases
growth and survival

 List four methods of seed dispersal. – wind, water, animals, and travel

 What are the three main parts of a seed? – embryo, seed coat, and endosperm

Problem:
What is the structure of some fruits and seeds?

Materials:
 Kitchen knife
 Plate or cutting board
 Fleshy Fruit (examples including apple, pears, oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, plumes,
cherries, grapes, or similar)
 Dry Fruit (sugar snap peas, snow peas, shelled peanuts, green beans or similar)
 Seed (examples including beans, peas, peanuts or similar)
Safety
Be careful when handling sharp instruments.
Figure 1. Orientation in fruit.
Procedure:
Part I: Fleshy Fruit
1. Using a kitchen knife carefully make a longitudinal cut through
the fruit. See Figure 1, for how to make a longitudinal cut.
2. Then gentle pry the two halves apart.
3. Observe the ripened ovary wall, which is called the pericarp.
In many fleshy fruit, the pericarp is made up of three layers: the
exocarp (outer layer); the mesocarp (middle layer); and the
endocarp (inner layer).
4. In the space provided below, draw a cross section of your fruit.
5. Label the pericarp and seed.

Part II: Dry Fruit

1. Using a kitchen knife carefully make a longitudinal cut through the fruit. See Figure 1, for
how to make a longitudinal cut.
2. Then gentle pry the two halves apart.
3. Observe the ripened ovary wall, which is called the pericarp. In dry fruit the pericarp is not
differentiated into multiple layers.
4. In the space provided below, draw a cross section of your fruit.
5. Label the pericarp and seed.

Part II: Seed

1. Using a kitchen knife carefully make a longitudinal cut through the seed. See Figure 1, for
how to make a longitudinal cut.
2. Then gentle pry the two halves apart.
3. In the space provided below, draw a cross section of your seed.
4. Label the embryo, endosperm and seed coat.

Fleshy Fruit Dry Fruit

Seed

Critical Thinking and Application

1. How are seeds structurally adapted to life on land? – They have outer shells called seed
coats that protect their embryos from drought and temperature.

2. People sometimes get into a dispute about whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. How
would a botanist settle this argument? – Tomato are fruits because it comes from a flower.

3. List two examples of fruits in which the seed is eaten, and the fruit is discarded. – almonds
and pomegranate

4. Many people buy and eat bags of sunflower seeds. Cracking them open and spitting out
the hard-outer layer. Based on what you learned in this lab, why are these bags
mislabeled. – Because they are actually the fruit, not the seed.