What is the function of the fetus: generative reproduction, dispersal and nutrition

Every organ of a living organism fulfills its vital function. To understand their specialization will help us the anatomy of flowering plants. The fruit does not take the last place in this row.

Generative organs

All parts of plants can be combined into two groups. To the vegetative are the root, stem and leaf. Their role is important. This is the flow of water, mineral nutrition, the synthesis of organic substances, vegetative reproduction. Generative organs (flower, fruit, seed) are called to perform the role of reproduction of organisms.

What function does the fetus perform in the plant? To answer this question, you must first understand its origin. The fetus is formed only from certain parts of the flower: from the fertilized female germ cell - the embryo, from the central - the reserve nutrient endosperm. All together it's a seed. But for germination and development of the future tiny organism, reliable protection and additional nutrition are necessary. This important role is assigned to the pericarp, consisting of several shells: outer, middle and inner. Each of them has its own features, due to the functions performed.

What function does the fetus

According to the structure, the fruits can be dry and juicy, monosemous and many-seeded. But, regardless of the characteristics, each in its own "cares" for its seeds, performing the most important functions.

Seed propagation

What function the fetus performs is possible to consider not only in the view of protection, but also in the distribution of seeds. And this is very important for the spreading of plants everywhere, increasing their species diversity.

The methods of seed propagation are diverse and depend on the particular structure of the pericarp. For example, everyone knows a rabid cucumber himself spreads seeds, breaking through a leathery peel. Similarly, during the touch, the balsam fruit crackles.

A reliable assistant in spreading plants is the wind. The gliders of maple and ash are easily picked up by the streams of air and transported to sufficiently distant distances. In general, most unfolding dry fruits spread their seeds just like that.

In many steppe plants, the shoot dries out at the base, breaks off and is also carried by the wind. So the globular bush rolls around the steppe.

Prickly and tenacious fruits of burdock often have to be torn off clothes or wool of domestic animals. This is their adaptation to resettlement. After all, you can find a spiny on yourself at a considerable distance from the attachment point.

Aquatic plants spread their seeds downstream.

Well, juicy fruits with a bright pericarp are traditionally a favorite delicacy not only for humans, but for many birds and animals. Together with the undigested food residues, the seeds fall into the soil far from the mother tree.

Seed protection

Fruits, like a reliable house, help the seeds survive unfavorable environmental conditions. And with the onset of heat and the availability of a sufficient amount of solar energy - to germinate, giving life to a new plant organism.

Of course, not all plant parts are delicious and edible. For example, what is the function of the fruit nut? Its lignified shell is not used for food, it does not have valuable nutritional qualities. But with such protection, nut-rich oil, rich in oils, can easily be planted in autumn and winter. And in the spring it will give rise to a future hazel.

Tasty and healthy

But for most of us fruits are associated with a tasty and useful product that has a wide application. A person can preserve fruits and berries, pickle vegetables, chop and add spicy seeds to a variety of dishes as a seasoning. From the fruits of cereals, flour is obtained, without which it is impossible to bake bread. From dried fruits of corn, sunflower, soy, flax squeeze a large number of valuable oils.

Fruits and seeds are also used in various industries. Cotton is made of natural fabrics, allowing you to feel comfortable even in an unbearable heat.

And in the period of catarrhal diseases without strawberries, raspberries and viburnum simply can not do. They are rich in vitamin C, supporting human immunity.

In nature, a lot and poisonous fruits. Belen causes vomiting and dizziness, elder eggs - diarrhea, pine cones of yew - a violation of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. All parts are poisonous in the plant of the crow of the eye . Berries are traditionally the most dangerous, because they have an attractive appearance. Especially often, children take care of it. But you can not do this in any case, because it can even lead to cardiac arrest.

We examined what function the fetus performs as a generative plant organ . It plays an important role for the organism itself, for its distribution and feeding of animals. But most of all it is used by a person, using whole and processed parts of fruits as food.