How does fruit benefit a tree? What is the purpose of, say, an orange, to the orange tree?

Answer 1

Fruit protect the seed from a tree. With citrus there's a different story because citrus can undergo "apomixis." In this process, if the zygote (future sexually produced seed) is aborted, which is frequent in citrus, other cells in the fruit turn into zygotes that are clones of the mother plant.
Also, fruit becomes a mechanism for seed dispersal. If the seed of a tree just fell straight down, the mother plant would have increased competition. By making fruit, such as an apple or a kiwi, animals will come, eat the fruit, including the seed. The seed then goes through the digestive track and comes out the other end. Sometimes seed need this scarification to germinate, while others just build up a tough enough seed coat to protect themselves from the digestion track. When the seed finally comes out, chances are the animal isn't right by the mother tree.

Answer 2

The fruit helps with the reproductive process:

1. The fruit encloses the seeds offering the seeds some physical protection from injury.
2. The fruit may be attractive to animals or offer some other method of dispersal - spreading the seeds away from the parent plant to avoid competition and spread the population over a larger area.

Answer 3

The importance of trees seems apparent when one tries to imagine a world without them. Cleaner air and water, food for our tables and thoughts, as well as inspiration for our senses are but a few things given to us by trees. If nothing else, they give us an excuse to sit, close our eyes, and listen to the winds rustle though their leaves.

The fruits grow mature and this seed grow a plant.So fruits benefit a tree. The orange seed grow to the orange tree.

Answer 4

Technically most fruit trees create "fruit" in order to disperse their seeds.

In the case of the orange or other edible fruit, it relies on animals/insects that come along and eat the fruit and then spread the seed to other areas.

Answer 5

lets see the fruit contains the seeds which the plant obiously grows out of som have a hard outer shell to keep animals from eating them othersare softer so that animals do eat them and spred their seeds over a wider area through excreations i.e. mistletoe in australia, which is actually a paracitic plant growing off the branches of other trees, grows berries a certain kind of bird eats these berries and leaves its droppings on other trees

Answer 6

To make more orange trees. Seeds=trees

Answer 7

The fruit gets eaten by birds and animals, the seeds don't get digested.
When the animal defecates then the seeds are moved farther from the tree. With any luck they will grow to new trees.

More info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_dispersal

Answer 8

Seems to me by looking around at every species of every living thing on earth has but one purpose, and that purpose would be to pass on its genes to the next civilization and allow them to recieve its genes and better them if they can for the species as a whole...........a genetic urge of all things. But hey its just my theory...lol

Answer 9

the purpose of fruit is to bear a seed. it is the plant way of continuation of its species. some plants have male and female on the same plant others bear fruit on one plant(the female) and the other plant produces pollen(the male)

Answer 10

Without the oranges, people mightn't look and say "what a pretty tree"!

Maybe nature is vain like us.