6 - Seed and fruit

Summary

The seed represents the dispersal unit of a plant. Seeds are dispersed from the flower either as separate units or enclosed inside a fruit. Each seed develops from a fertilized ovule. Fruits can develop from various structures, including a single ovary (simple fruits, found in the majority of angiosperms), a flower with multiple free carpels (aggregate fruits, e.g. in Ranunculus), a single carpel (e.g. the monocarpellate pod of the legume family Fabaceae) or even from an entire inflorescence (e.g. in pineapple, Ananas comosus).