If you have a pumpkin patch, you cannot predict the number of potential pumpkins
ID: 266976 • Letter: I
Question
If you have a pumpkin patch, you cannot predict the number of potential pumpkins by counting
the total number of flowers. Why? Pumpkin plants have separate male flowers and female flowers on the same plant. A pumpkin fruit develops from the pistil of a female flower. Identify a female flower by its bulging inferior ovary at the end of the flower stalk beneath the sepals and petals. Thus, to determine the number of potential pumpkins that you will be harvesting, you count only the number of FEMALE flowers present! (This is true also for the zucchini, squash, cucumber, and most other members of the gourd family.)
Q: You look at your pumpkin patch in the garden and there are 7 flowers; upon closer examination you discover that all 7 are female flowers. How many pumpkins would you expect to harvest? ______ (Be careful now... remember that “it takes two”.)
Explanation / Answer
Answer: Zero
Explanation:
Sexual reproduction requires fusion of gametes produced by produced by two different sexes.
In the given case, only female flowers are present. So, they can not be pollinated in the absence of male flowers. So, fruits can be formed.
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