Fruit in the Fall

All trees have fruit, if not seeds. You should be able to come up with a number of fruit and their trees: the apple and the apple tree; the pear and the pear tree; the orange and the orange tree, to name just a few. The seeds are found inside the fruit. If you plant an apple seed, an apple tree will grow. If you plant an apple from which the seeds have been removed, nothing will grow. The important part is the seed. The seed contains all the genetic information needed to grow a tree.

The fruit develops once the flower has been fertilized by pollen. Each species of tree has its own kind of fruit, which ripens at different times of the year.

The red maple and the silver maple rush to produce their fruit. It appears in the spring even before the leaves are fully developed. Poplars are also in a hurry to get out their fruit, which is scattered by the wind in early summer.

Tuft from the cottonwood	Key from the red maple

Other trees take their time. Their fruit is usually larger, more complex, and less abundant. It takes more time to mature.

Acorn from the bur oak	Acorn from the red oak

Key from the sugar maple	Nut from the bitternut hickory