Are There Male and Female Fruit? What About Fruit Gender? This Question Was Posed Online & Deserves An Answer.
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Both new comers to gardening and those with plenty of experience get a bit confused over this. And that’s before we consider the difference between gender and sex. But for the sake of this article I’m looking at whether fruit are either biologically male or female.
Small scale fruit growing
I think the reason people get confused is because plants are a bit confusing. They don’t seem to adhere to any single rule. Some plants are male and only produce pollen, others are female and only produce “eggs” that can be pollinated! It seems little strange to write eggs in this context because they aren’t eggs as such, but some plants produce only the female part of the equation!
More confusingly some plants produce both male and female growth on the same plant. And in some cases the male and female parts are inside a single flower. Tomatoes are such an example. The bit we call the flower has both male and female parts inside the flower. What then grows from the flower is the fruit and to answer the initial question …
No, the edible part we call “fruit” does not have a gender.
It is neither male nor female. But the seeds inside it will produce young plants which, in some species, will be male or female. In many cases there will be many seeds inside a fruit and whether male, female or a mix, will depend on the species.
The Botanical Bit
The reason for all this is that a fruit, botanically speaking, is the mature ovary of a flower, and its purpose is to protect the seeds. Since a fruit develops from the female reproductive structure, it’s not considered to have a gender itself—it is the result of sexual reproduction.
However, the plants that produce fruit often have different sexual expressions, which is where the concept of “male” and “female” plants comes into play.
Plants That Produce Fruit Can Have a “Gender”
In the plant world, we use different terms to describe how male and female reproductive organs (flowers) are distributed:
Term
Meaning (Sexual Expression)
Fruit Production
Examples of Plants/Fruits
Hermaphroditic / Cosexual
Each flower has both male (stamen) and female (pistil) parts.
Every flower can produce a fruit.
Apples, Pears, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers.
Monoecious
Separate male flowers and female flowers are on the same plant.
Only the female flowers develop into fruit.
Squash, Corn, Watermelon, Cucumber.
Dioecious
Male flowers and female flowers are on separate plants.
Only the female plant produces fruit. You must plant a male plant nearby to pollinate the females.
Kiwi, Holly (berries are a type of fruit), Date Palm,
So, while the fruit itself doesn’t have a gender, the plant that bears the fruit can be strictly male or female.
And of course some fruit are seedless, but more of that another day!
