Page 20 - Lesson Notes-Morphologyof flowering plant

Importance of Fruits
(i) Fruits are a source of vitamins, organic acids, minerals, pectin and sugars and
some of them are used as vegetables, e.g., Okra (lady’s finger), tomato, pumpkin,
cucumber, gourd, etc.
(ii) Cereals are one seeded dry fruits, form the stable food of humans.
(iii) Fruits are important foods for fruit eating birds (frugivorous) and some animals.
(iv) Some fruits are also used as medicines, e.g., Emblica officinalis (amla), Datum
stramonium (datura), Papaver somniferum (poppy), etc.
(v) They protect immature seeds against climatic conditions till their maturity.
(vi) The unripe fruits are bitter due to the presence of tannins, bitter alkaloids,
astringents, sour acids, etc. This way they keep the animals away from eating them.
The Seed
Seed is a ripened ovule which contains an embryo or tiny plant with sufficient
reserve food for the development of embyo.
The ovules after fertilisation develops into seeds. A seed is made up of seed coats