FRUITS AND THEIR USES 



53 



The blackberry, a. fruit having small seeds 

 scattered bv birds. 



It is evidently of considerable advantage to a plant to be able 

 to place its progeny, which are to grow up from seeds, at a consider- 

 able distance from itself, in order that the young plant may be pro- 

 vided with a sufficient space to get nourishment and foothold. This 

 is the result which plants have 

 to accomplish. Some accom- 

 plish the result more com- 

 pletely than others, and thus 

 are the more successful ones 

 in the battle of life. 



Adaptations for Seed Disper- 

 sal; Fleshy Fruits with Hard 

 Seeds. Plants are fitted to 

 scatter their seeds by having 

 the special means either in the 

 fruit or in the seed. Various 

 agents, as the wind, water, or 

 squirrels, birds, and other animals, make it possible for the seeds 

 to be taken away from the plant. 



Fleshy fruits, that is, such fruits as contain considerable water 

 when ripe, are eaten by animals and the seeds passed off undigested. 

 Most wild fleshy fruits have small, hard, indigestible seeds. Birds 

 are responsible for much seed planting of berries or other small fruit. 

 Bears and other berry-feeding animals aid in this as well. Some 

 seeds have especial adaptations in the way of spines or projections. 

 Insects make use of these projections in order to carry them away. 

 Ants plant seeds which they have carried to their nests for a food 

 supply. Nuts are planted by squirrels and blue jays. 



Suggestions for Field Work. Examine the fruit of huckleberry, black- 

 berry, wild strawberry, wild cherry, black haw, wild grape, tomato, 

 currant. Report how many of the above have seeds with hard coatings. 

 Notice that in most, if not in all, edible fruits, the fruit remains green, 

 sour, and inedible until the seeds are ripe. In the state of nature, how 

 might this be of use to a plant ? 



Hooks and Spines. Some fruits which are dry and have a hard 

 external covering when ripe possess hooks or spines which enable 

 the whole fruit to be carried away from the parent plant by animals 

 or other moving objects. Cattle are responsible for the spread of 



