Submitted by JanaCinnamon t3_10pej9d in explainlikeimfive
Exciting_Telephone65 t1_j6k4yb4 wrote
Reply to comment by Spiritual_Jaguar4685 in ELI5: Why do so many fruits have seedless varieties but the apple and cherry do not? by JanaCinnamon
Does that mean it only creates clones of itself? And if it can do so, why would they keep the option of fertilisation around?
Kewkky t1_j6k5ct0 wrote
More like it creates "placenta", even when unfertilized.
Muroid t1_j6k7xs6 wrote
A bit like chickens laying unfertilized eggs.
LakeStLouis t1_j6lfq87 wrote
And now I'm trying to figure out what an apple tree cloaca would look like.
Yeah, don't go down that path.
platoprime t1_j6lfwcj wrote
Roots; the answer is roots.
Sorry for whatever you stumbled on.
Hippy_Liberal1 t1_j6oafv2 wrote
The struggle is real.
Maybe something like this: https://images.app.goo.gl/QW2HsxfLxwqScsw57
Fun fake fact: Owls are the guardians of tree cloacas. Also if an apple had recently been laid, there would be some residual sauce around the edges. Delicious!
rlbond86 t1_j6khgee wrote
They don't create any offspring, just the fruit.
dedicated-pedestrian t1_j6ksfsl wrote
I mean, we basically do clone apple trees to avoid any differentiation in the fruit. Not something the plant intends or plans around though.
Suitable-Lake-2550 t1_j6lwfh8 wrote
All commercial bananas are clones from the same tree. Bred to be seedless.
Very susceptible to disease from lack of genetic diversity...
atomfullerene t1_j6lvtff wrote
Seedless fruit trees are propagated as clones, but humans do the propagating. In the wild, they would be unable to reproduce. Seeded fruit tree varieties are also propagated as clones, though.
DrChoopy t1_j6m83n5 wrote
In case of seedless varieties they do not create clones they spread “through cuttings”.
In nature there are plants that self-fertilise and create clones of themselves! They keep the option of cross pollination because plants don’t move and they need an individual able to do said fertilisation.
By creating clones you move in time… and space, so that cross pollination can happen.
*Except if you are peas!! In which case you are perfect the way that you are and you don’t need anybody else! Lol
Its-me-Syke t1_j6n5qn0 wrote
Well, because the unfertilized fruits cannot create more trees therefore once the original trees die, the fruit would cease to exist
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