What are seedless Berries?- Any fruit or Berry without a seed is seedless. So technically, All those berries that come without any seed are seedless berries. There are many reasons for this to happen and believe me our interest plays a major role in this Change.
Fruits of all kinds have a natural tendency to produce seeds. This is the prime objective of their existence. The plant needs to reproduce and seeds are the best way to do it. Seed gives a plant to evolve by adapting to its environment. They help plants to build characters that can give them an advantage over external factors.
Suppose a plant lives in a dry low moisture region. It will need to adapt to save itself and ensure its heredity. This is how cactus plants evolve continuously to adapt to desert-like conditions. They develop thick stems and thorns to save as much water as they can. All of these characters get carried from one generation to other. Although the initial adaptation needs preexisting genes to combine. In plants, it can only happen with sexual reproduction that’s the seed formation.
Characters from two parents combine in their offspring. The inherited character will then evolve to adapt according to the circumstances. All different plant on earth has evolved through this process. Latter some of these may have lost their seed development character mostly due to human intervention.
Check out the previous post: Where Do Carrot Seeds Come From?
On a funny note, I would Suggest not to search Seedless Watermelons Seeds on Amazon. Think again about what you are trying to find! Trust me I feel so embarrassed just by searching this, such a dumb thought.
Banana as a Seedless Berry
Banana is a berry do you know that. We only think of them as delicious fruits full of potassium and calcium. They are definitely more than that.
It is a perfect example of a seedless berry. Although you can find some bananas with seeds. Are you not sure then check- Do Banana has seeds? Yes or no- Kitchen Garden facts.
The old wild species of Banana do not look the same as they are today. They usually have round black or brown seeds. Those seeds were 1 to 3 mm in diameter. They were viable and can grow into new banana plants.
Although with time and selective reproduction growers breed species with little to no seeds. They want the fruits to get bigger and sweeter without any seeds. That’s why you will rarely see any seed in modern store-bought bananas. Though you can confirm their existence by tracing tiny seed roots. These seed roots can occasionally be seen in the center of a banana with or without black seed spots.
If you are searching only for an answer then Yes, Banana is a seedless Berry. Although there are many more berries that can be seedless.
Seedless Strawberry
Yes, you can also have seedless strawberries. Strawberries are rather a unique and complex fruit. Most Strawberry varieties contain seeds outside the fruit. The seeds are usually stuck to their outer surface.
As I said strawberry is a complex fruit not to eat but to understand. Some of them may have seeds while others may not. And those seedless strawberries are quite popular these days.
I know big round banana seeds are disturbing but how can a tiny strawberry seed bother someone who eats it. I just don’t get the point of developing a seedless strawberry variety. Still, they are present. If you want to grow them then you can only use the plant division to do so. They usually don’t have any seed or if they do then most of them are infertile. They will never mature enough to sprout new strawberry plants.
So seedless strawberry can be the next seedless berry on the list. Read this: Grow Strawberries from store-bought Fruit
Why Do we have Seedless Berries?
Most of us have heard and also seed quite a few seedless berries. Have you ever thought about why do we have those seedless berries, how and where did they come from? Obviously without seed how they reproduce and so and so.
I know it’s a lot to answer but let’s make it simple. First of all, let us discuss the reasons why a fruit or berry stops producing seeds.
We know that plants produce fruits to nurture seeds. Seeds are essential for their existence and continuation of heredity. Isn’t it harmful to them to stop producing seeds, how do they keep evolving then? Ok, indeed, stopping seed production is not healthy for the plant species. At least they are good for their cultivators.
Commercial Aspect is the first reason for developing seedless fruits or berries. We breed these seedless species just to obtain what we need in terms of bigger fruits. The quality of fruits, their size, and looks are the commercial aspects and sometimes seed lacks this importance. So if customers demand a fruit to be seedless then farmers try their best to do it as fast as they could.
Some plants also stop developing seeds as they no longer need them. These plants usually develop another reliable method for reproduction. Like today Banana tree is propagated for root division and pups. Although these changes are greatly governed by human intervention. Directly or Indirectly we affect our environment a lot. Plants adapt accordingly to continue their existence.
Can Seedless Berries occur Naturally?
It is strange but true. Seedless berries can occur naturally. It may occur due to permanent changes in the plant’s reproduction pattern. Else a little mutation to any specific fruiting plant may also do this. This is why we get occasional seedless Guava in a perfectly natural seed-grown tree. An opposite change can be seen in seedless watermelon farms where a few fruits occasionally develop some seeds and it’s natural.
If the plants stay in an environment for generations where they don’t require any seed to reproduce. Then it will eventually stop seed development. This is something like natural hybridization and we call it evolution.
We humans simply mimic this process in a controlled manner to achieve the results in such a shorter time. And we call it hybridization. In fact, Hybridization is nothing special other than altering the natural evolution of a plant by allowing only a specific character to move along generations. This way we keep unwanted characters out of line though they are not 100% gone. That’s why we always see exceptions in the plant kingdom.
Therefore, If we simply don’t allow a plant to reproduce through seed for many generations. then the need for seed is obsolete for the plant. It will reduce its effort on working on seed production to other necessary growth. Though this may take many years to complete without any technical support.