Flowers are pretty, but they also have a big job. A flower is where a plant makes its seeds. Then a fruit grows around the seeds to hold them and keep them safe.
Key idea
Flowers make seeds. A fruit is the part of a plant that holds the seeds.
Why it works
After a flower blooms, its petals fall off. The part in the middle swells up into a fruit with seeds inside. That is why you find seeds when you cut open an apple, a pumpkin or a tomato.
Worked example: Let's think it through
A tomato is not sweet. Is it a fruit?
- Cut a tomato open.
- It is full of small seeds.
- The part of a plant that holds seeds is a fruit.
Answer: Yes. A tomato is a fruit.
Common mistake
Children often call only sweet foods fruits. To a scientist, sweet does not matter. A tomato, a cucumber, a pumpkin and a pea pod are all fruits, because they hold seeds.
For the grown-up. In the kitchen we call tomatoes and cucumbers vegetables, and that is fine for cooking. In science, "fruit" means the part that holds the seeds.