72
votes
Accepted
Why does a coconut have exactly three "holes"?
The three "holes" are the result of the 3 carpels in coconut flowers, and three carpels is typical of the family Arecaceae (Palms). The "holes" are actually germination pores, where one is usually ...
- 16.6k
47
votes
Accepted
Why are sugars in whole fruits not digested the same way sugars in juice are?
Sugars in 100% natural fruit juices are chemically the same as in whole fruits. They mainly include glucose, fructose and sucrose:
Apple nutrition data (expand the carbohydrate section)
Apple juice ...
- 7,949
22
votes
Accepted
Why do plants fruit?
Seeds are spread by many mechanisms
Wind dispersal: When air currents used to spread seeds. Often these plants have evolved features to facilitate wind catching, for example dandelions. Aka, ...
- 16k
20
votes
Is a walnut a nut or a drupe?
Short answer
Walnuts are classified both as nuts and drupes ('stone fruits').
background
According to University of Wisconsin - Madison, Department of Botany , hickory and walnut can be classified ...
- 51k
18
votes
Accepted
This looks like it was somebody’s home - but who?
That looks similar to the dried fruit of Echinocystis lobata (wild cucumber), which grows throughout New York. The fruit is about the right size (~3 cm) and shape, whereas the best alternative I can ...
- 5,203
14
votes
Accepted
Why are fruits so large compared to their seeds?
The short answer: Fruits are large compared to seeds because humans have made them large.
In the natural environment, there is a different set of evolutionary pressures. A fruit has to be able to ...
- 9,304
14
votes
Accepted
Identity of plant bearing a cluster of bulbous, glossy red fruits (Oak Ridges Moraine)
This isn't a flower, but the cluster of shiny berries containing the seeds of a flower. My best guess is that it is a Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), but it's a bit hard to tell from the two ...
- 24.2k
12
votes
Is a walnut a nut or a drupe?
A true nut, botanically speaking, is a hard-shelled pod that contains
both the fruit and seed of the plant, where the fruit does not open to
release the seed to the world. Some examples of ...
- 2,695
11
votes
Accepted
How does coconut water solidify into hardened coconut meat?
There are three types of endosperms encountered in botany - nuclear, heliobial and cellular. The endosperm of Cocos nucifera is both special and interesting.
Initially, the cocunut is a nuclear ...
- 3,594
11
votes
Accepted
Are pulp cells (in oranges) normal plant cells?
They are not individual cells. In fact, the "juice sacs" (as they are known) are actually specialized, multicellular hairs:
Juice sacs originate as multicellular hairs in which the interior of the ...
- 3,254
11
votes
Accepted
Identify this unusually-shaped, orange-colored fruit that grows in pairs?
The seed pods reminded me of the Apocynaceae, so I searched for "apocynaceae china" and found this University of Hawaii page where it is identified as Stemmadenia litoralis. However, a little more ...
- 1,371
10
votes
Accepted
How did these apples grow together?
They are basically conjoined apples which share a common stalk. They are rare but do happen. Here is an article of one discovered in a backyard.
conjoined apple discovered in a store (reference)
It ...
- 5,769
10
votes
Accepted
Can anyone help to identify this fruit?
I think this looks a lot like a pale variety of Solanum Muricatum or Pepino dulce/melon/pear.
It's native to South America, but I think that it would be able to be cultivated in India as well.
- 964
9
votes
Accepted
What exactly makes bananas go brown?
The reason for this is the oxidation of phenol residues in the banana (for example in the yellow color) which get oxidized by the enzyme Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to melanins. The scheme (the image is ...
- 49.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Plant growing inside a fruit
That is a papaya seed showing vivipary, or premature sprouting. The plant is getting all the sugar it needs from the nutrients stored in the seed so it does not photosynthesize. If it were to run out, ...
- 106
9
votes
Can someone help me to identify what kind of pear is this?
Plu Code 4413 is a bosc pear (a cultivar of Pyrus communis).
From the PLU search tool available via the International Federation for Produce Standards
FYI: take a close look at the pear you're ...
- 26.5k
8
votes
Accepted
What fruit did I just accidentally buy?
Looks like a papaya that isn't ripe yet. Being said, if you already cut it in half it probably isn't going to ripen any further. A ripe papaya has pink/orange flesh and the seeds turn black.
- 8,031
7
votes
If I buy a banana at the market, is there any chance that an insect is hiding inside it?
Kaleb Lechowski, creator of that video, is a digital creator and animator of critters. I would propose that he did a very good job of rendering a CGI spider to burst from a banana.
Spiders (which ...
- 11.2k
7
votes
What is this fruit
Considering how many of them I’ve seen growing on the ground where I live in PA, it’s likely a mock strawberry. The plants grow on runners on the ground and have yellow flowers with five petals that ...
- 765
7
votes
Why does this plum/apricot hybrid look like brains?
It is difficult to say, but it is likely due to disease. Many plant diseases have the effect of convincing plant tissues that they are some other organ than what they actually are, which leads to ...
- 6,721
7
votes
Why are sugars in whole fruits not digested the same way sugars in juice are?
Drinking the juice without the fruit can easily lead to over-consumption. It is after all harder to eat four apples than drinking 500ml apple juice.
As the liver breaks the fructose through ...
- 171
6
votes
Why are many fruits sour?
Short answer
Great question! I have done some research on the topic and found so much interesting information. It still seems like a topic that i being researched on, but so far, the research shows ...
- 3,049
6
votes
Accepted
Why do same type of fruits come in different sizes?
Phenotypic variance
This variance in the appearance of living things is called phenotypic variance. There are a number of reasons for the existence of such phenotypic variance. In other words there ...
- 67.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Fruit identification
it looks like medlar. Medlar is a fruit sized about 4cm (1 1/2 inch). it must be common medlar.
You can find out more about this interesting fruit here at Wikipedia.
The medlar was already being ...
- 560
6
votes
Accepted
What is this strange-shaped fruit?
Now I have the answer, and if you are reading this soon after eating the fruit you should probably seek medical attention.
Looks like Cascabela theviata which is in the Apocynaceae and the Wikipedia ...
- 1,371
6
votes
Why does this plum/apricot hybrid look like brains?
This is a guess, but perhaps the result of an infection by a fungal plant pathogen related to Taphrina deformans. T deformans infects species of the genus Prunus (i.e. the genus of prunes and apricots)...
- 26.5k
6
votes
Accepted
What is this fruit found in a market in Uyuni, Bolivia at the end of December 2019? (orange skin, 4cm, white flesh)
I found the name: it appears to be Garcinia humilis, known commonly as achachairú or achach:
Garcinia humilis, known commonly as achachairú or achacha, is a small, prolifically-fruiting tree ...
- 1,710
6
votes
Accepted
What's the name of this green fruit with little pikes fallen from a city tree on the pavement?
It is horse chestnut it is very common to plant chestnut trees in public parks and a lot of people do have them around their property and by the side of many roads.
What you have in your picture is ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible