Blueberries, durian, chestnuts, almonds... do you know how they grow?

In daily life, everyone has eaten a lot of fruits and nuts. We may know how grapes grow, and what pear trees look like, but can you imagine how almonds, cashews, and blueberries grow? Let's take a look at how they grow!

Let’s look at the fruit first. This beautiful sea of ​​red is what cranberries look like when they are harvested.

01

cranberry

From the end of October to the beginning of November every year is the cranberry harvest season. Cranberries are a magical fruit that grows in the wetlands of North America. Because they grow close to the soil, they are not easy to pick, so clever farmers take advantage of the property of cranberries that they will float when they come into contact with water. They fill the farmland with water to make the cranberries float , thus forming the beautiful Red Sea that we see. Isn’t it magical?

Cranberries floating on the water. Copyright image, no permission to reprint

02

blueberry

What is this? Do you recognize it? From a distance, it looks a bit like hawthorn, but the color is different. What is this? This fruit is actually a blueberry .

Blueberries are blue in appearance, look very beautiful, taste very good, and are loved by everyone. Blueberries belong to the Ericaceae family. Unlike strawberries, they do not grow along the ground, but grow on trees, like grapes and hawthorns, hanging in bunches on the trees , and look very beautiful!

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03

pawpaw

As a fruit from the southern tropical region, papaya requires strong photosynthesis to grow. In fact, it is named papaya because it grows directly from the wood, and the papayas bear fruit at the top of the tree, which looks like an umbrella, densely packed and spectacular!

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04

durian

Look at this strange-looking thing hanging on the tree. Can you recognize it at a glance? Yes, it is a durian .

Durian is a purely tropical crop that requires a high temperature climate all year round to grow and bear fruit. Durian is as big as a football, with a rough and uneven skin, and it is quite surprising that many small branches can bear such weight.

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After looking at fruits, let’s look at nuts~

05

cashew

Does this little tail look familiar? It’s the cashew nut.

It's hard to imagine that cashew, one of the four famous dried fruits in the world, actually grows on trees. The fruit of the cashew tree is divided into two parts, the nut and the pear , also known as the true fruit and the false fruit. The kernel inside the true fruit is actually the cashew nut we often eat, growing on the top of the false fruit. The kernel usually has a hard shell outside, and the kernel is blue-gray. Because it looks like a chicken kidney, it is also called chicken cashew.

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The false fruit is a fleshy fruit formed by the receptacle, which looks somewhat like a pear, and is oval or flat, so it is called fruit pear. When ripe, it is bright red or orange-yellow in color, and has a high water content. It is one of the fruits that can cool down and relieve heat in tropical areas.

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06

Almonds

Look at this ~ This is almond, a popular nut produced all over the world. It is a nutrient-dense and healthy snack.

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Many people confuse almonds with almonds, but in fact, almonds and almonds are two different nuts. Almonds are the kernel of almonds, and almonds are the kernel of apricots. Almonds and apricots are botanically different plants .

Almond is the name of the Uyghur language in Xinjiang. Almonds in my country are mainly grown in Xinjiang. They were introduced from ancient Persia, now Iran, and have been planted in Xinjiang for more than 1,000 years. It is recorded in the Tang Dynasty book: "The almonds come from Persia, and the Persians call it the Podan tree. It is five or six feet long and four or five feet around. The leaves are like peaches but wider. It blooms in March and is white. The flowers fall and the fruits are shaped like peaches, but the shape is tilted, so it is called a tilted peach. The flesh is astringent and not easy to swallow, and the kernel is sweet. It is treasured by all the countries in the Western Regions."

Image from the author

Image from the author

Yes, you read that right, almonds do grow on trees. They are covered with a layer of flesh on the outside. When ripe, the skin will burst open, and the core inside is the dried almond.

07

Chestnut

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What is this? It's covered with thorns. Can you eat it? You read it right. This is the chestnut we often eat.

Chestnut is known as the "king of dried fruits". It is hard to imagine that it is wrapped in a layer of thorns. In fact, during the growth period, the chestnut is a small thorn ball, all round and full of thorns. It looks very interesting, but it is basically not to be touched, otherwise your hands will be full of various small thorns.

And when the chestnut is ripe, if it is not picked in time, it will open its mouth like a pomegranate, revealing the plump fruit inside. Don't say it, such chestnuts are really unrecognizable and give people a cute feeling.

Author: Lao Ke opens his mind

Review | Wang Kang, Director of the Science Museum of the National Botanical Garden

This article is produced by Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program

The cover image and some images in this article are from the copyright library