Question

4. Plant Reproduction

Flowering plants are the most evolutionarily successful group of plants. Most of

the plants that the average person sees in a day are flowering plants. Grass, broadleaf

trees, and shrubs are all flowering plants. One of the keys to the extraordinary success

of flowering plants is the fruit.

4a. Popular culture classifies green bell peppers as vegetables. You put them

in your chili, right, not in a pie?! However, after having taken BIOL 101, you

know that they are actually fruits and not vegetables. Give a scientific

explanation of a fruit, and, consequently, how you know that a green bell pepper

is a fruit, contrasting it to what you know to be vegetables, like kale and carrots

and celery.

4b. Fruits cannot happen without flowers. Explain the relationship between

fruits and flowers. As a part of your answer, explain how fruits develop, from

inception to completion. Be sure to incorporate the appropriate floral structures,

what they contribute to plant reproduction, and how they are related to their

respective seed/fruit parts.

4c. Not all flowers are the same (they have differences in color, shape, odor,

etc). Using what you learned about flowers in BIOL 101, explain why this is true.

As a part of your answer, explain the true “purpose” of a flower, give examples of

flowers, use the appropriate names for the parts of a flower that contribute to this

purpose, and include the concept of co-evolution between the flower and the

main audience for the flower.