Eli5: Why do some plants flower briefly before growing vegetables? Do some flowers have vegetables we don’t eat?

Question

Eli5: Why do some plants flower briefly before growing vegetables? Do some flowers have vegetables we don’t eat?

In: Biology

Answer 1

So there is one distinction that needs to be made here. If you are looking at plants from a botanical perspective, a fruit is what develops from a flower as it contains seeds and is involved in the reproduction process, whereas vegetables are the other parts of the plant (stem, leaf, root, etc). From a culinary perspective, fruits and vegetables are divided by taste. So flowering is a method to attract pollinators to pollinate the egg inside the flower which is responsible for creating the seeds to create more baby plants. The fruits that form around them are usually a way of safely pocketing this seed until they can spread.

There are many fruits that are inedible to humans. Some include asparagus berries, holly and nightshade.