444 



flower petals have dried up and fallen 

 off. A blossom does not last long; it 

 withers, usually leaving nothing but a 

 few shriveled flower parts and the ovary 

 attached to the flower stem. But mean- 

 while the ovary has begun to grow. This 

 growth continues. After some days, if 

 you cut the ovary open, you will see that 

 the once small ovules are becoming larger 

 too. This is not surprising since the ovule 

 contains the developing embryo. The 

 embryo is growing so much that it 

 would soon burst the wrappings of the 

 ovule if the ovule did not also grow. 

 When full grown it is no longer called 

 an ovule; it is called a seed. The seed or 

 ripened ovule, therefore, always con- 

 sists of an embryo enclosed in wrappings 



How Animals and Plants Reproduce unit viii 



called seed coats; sometimes, too, there 

 is extra food (endosperm) around or 

 alongside the embryo. 



Not only the ovule but the ovary too 

 grows. You can study such an enlarged 

 ovary if you examine the bean (or pea) 

 pod. See Exercise 9. An enlarged ovary 

 with its enclosed seed or seeds and any 

 other attached parts is known as a fruit. 

 It may have grown enormously and its 

 appearance have changed completely, 

 for sometimes other flower parts enlarge 

 along with the ripening ovary so that 

 the fruit becomes fleshy or changed in 

 some other way. A fruit is not always 

 something that can be eaten by man. 



In the fruit or the seed of some plants 

 special structures develop which aid in 



Withered 

 stigma 



- Seed 



Fig. 393 (left) Develop- 

 ment of an ovary mto a 

 fruit. This development 

 takes place after pollination 

 and the fertilization of the 

 egg in each ovule. What 

 happens to each ovule? 



Fig. 394 (below) Three 

 ripened ovaries or friiits. 

 Only the core of the apple 

 is the ripened ovary. 



(BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 

 AND SCHNEIDER) 



