Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: neilep on 29/04/2008 21:32:39
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Dear Plantfruitologists,
There's this plant right ?...it's called Hog Peanut (Amphicarpa bracteata)
Look..here's a piccy !
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Nice eh ?..it's the greeny planty thing there in the middle !!
Apparently, this plant has three different fruits !!...two above ground and one beneath it !!
What's that all about ?....what process led to that happening eh ?....do any other plants offer multi-fruit joy ?
Thank ewe
Hugs and shmishes
neil
xxxxxxxxx
mwah mwah !
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Perhaps it just can't make up it's mind which way to swing - AC-DC, plus?
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I know almost nothing about this plant, but I can offer a possible explanation. Fruits are created by plants as a means of reproducing. More specifically, edible fruits are designed to attract animals which will disperse seeds in their dung after eating the fruit. This is one strategy a plant can use to spread its offspring over a sizeable territory.
Here's where my speculation comes in.
Suppose that you are a plant, and you have three local fruit-eating animal species (A, B, and C) in your neighborhood. However, let's say that they are not that common, so creating a fruit that Animal A will consume will not be enough to spread your seeds quickly effectively. Likewise, if your fruit is attractive to either Animal B or Animal C, it still would not be enough. The best compromise would be to create a fruit that all of them would be capable of eating. However, let's say that their feeding patterns and methods are too different from one-another to make this possible. The next best thing would be to create three different kinds of fruit; one that each species can consume. Hence, you can utilize the seed-spreading ability of three species where the ability of any species alone would be insufficient. That might be the strategy that this plant utilizes.
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Suppose that you are a plant, and you have three local fruit-eating animal species (A, B, and C) in your neighborhood. However, let's say that they are not that common, so creating a fruit that Animal A will consume will not be enough to spread your seeds quickly effectively. Likewise, if your fruit is attractive to either Animal B or Animal C, it still would not be enough. The best compromise would be to create a fruit that all of them would be capable of eating. However, let's say that their feeding patterns and methods are too different from one-another to make this possible. The next best thing would be to create three different kinds of fruit; one that each species can consume. Hence, you can utilize the seed-spreading ability of three species where the ability of any species alone would be insufficient. That might be the strategy that this plant utilizes.
So, is it like using a rainbow deck in a trading card game duel?