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Fruits are the mature or ripened reproductive structures (ovary of a flower) formed by plants that enclose seeds and help with their dispersal. Fruits generally have fleshy outer material. To learn more about how fruits and seeds are formed, see Celebrating Wildflower's “What is pollination?” web page. Fruits can be classified as:
Common chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) was used by Native Americans. There are over 163 uses for this important plant and its fruit. Photo by Teresa Prendusi. Fun Facts About Tomatoes
There are many fruits from around the world. Below are short listings of fruits from differing climates. Fruits from Cold Climates
Fruits from Warm Climates
Native North American Fruit
In the desert southwest, Yucca baccata is commonly called the banana yucca, as the large, fleshy fruits pods that are somewhat banana-shaped, were an important source of food for many native people. The fruits were eaten raw or cooked, or made into breads or beverages. Flowers were eaten before the first rain to prevent bitterness. The fruit pulp was cooked to a paste and dried for winter use. This plant, in the Agave family, typically has pointed, stiff, narrow leaves. Yuccas were one of the most important plants for Native Americans in the southwest. They provided food, fiber, and soap, and were also used in ceremonies. For more information, see Celebrating Wildflowers' Plant of the Week: Banana Yucca. Banana yucca (Yucca baccata), an extremely important native American plant. Photo by Vic Bradfield. Did You Know?
Feedloader (Clickability) The phrase "comparing apples and oranges" is often invoked when a person compares two items that are thought to be so different as to make any comparison invalid. But are apples and oranges really that different? According to TimeTree.org, Malus x domestica (the apple) and Citrus sinensis (the navel orange) are separated by about 89.2 million years of evolution, but they are both fruit trees. Surely there are valid comparisons that can be made. So where are the differences, and is a comparison between them truly invalid, as the idiom says? To make my comparisons, I will draw from my own experience and several online sources, including a dietician's analysis of the juices of the two fruits and a published study: "Comparing apples and oranges: a randomised prospective study," by James Barone, which appeared in the British Medical Journal in 2000. Here are just a few characteristics:
In an earlier study ("Apples and Oranges—A Comparison," published in the Annals of Improbable Research in 1995), Scott Sandford produced a spectrograph from dried samples of a Granny Smith apple and a Sunkist navel orange. He concluded that not only was it easy to compare the two, but the two fruits were remarkably similar. "Thus, it would appear that the comparing apples and oranges defense should no longer be considered valid. This is a somewhat startling revelation," Sanford wrote. "It can be anticipated to have a dramatic effect on the strategies used in arguments and discussions in the future." Well, he didn't get that right, but perhaps we should consider dropping the use of this idiom. |