The specks that are visible on the outside of a strawberry are actually the plant’s ovaries called achenes. Each of them is a separate fruit with a single seed inside. It is these seed-like fruits that are mistaken for seeds. Strawberries do not rely on the seeds inside the achenes to reproduce. Each plant can send out thin runners that take root and give rise to multiple new plants.
When a strawberry flower is pollinated, the fruit doesn’t swell. The fertilized ovaries in the flower form separate, small, dry fruits. Those “seeds” on the outside of a strawberry are actually the fruits, each of which contains a single seed.
The ripe, red, fleshy part that we think of as the strawberry “fruit” is actually swollen receptacle tissue – the part of the plant that connected the flower to the stem. When a strawberry flower is pollinated, it triggers the receptacle tissue to grow and change.
But that still doesn’t answer the question, it just changes it a little. Why are the small, dry fruits located on the outside of the red, sweet thing that we all like to eat?
The short answer is that we don’t really know which evolutionary forces caused the strawberry to develop the way that it did.
Picture Credit : Google
