“WE ARE WASHINGTON: WASHINGTON PRODUCTS”PLANT CLASSIFICATION
Objective
Classify fruit and vegetables through observation and research.
Materials
Edible plants from the grocery store such as apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, pineapples, peaches, tomatoes,
beets, turnips, kale, squash, eggplant, bell peppers, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, broccoli,
cauliflower, asparagus and nuts.
Lesson
1.
Describe the difference between fruits and vegetables. Fruits have seeds and develop from flowering plants.
Vegetables are all other parts of plants that have roots, stems and leaves.
2.
Classify the above plants and/or other plants as fruits or vegetables.
3.
Discuss:
• Do any of your classifications surprise you? Why?
• Why might farmers and chefs differ on the classification of fruits and vegetables?
• What words do we often use to describe the taste of fruits? How about vegetables?
• What are the exceptions to these descriptions?
4. Make a chart for fruits within the following categories: fleshy (those with a flesh area between the seeds and the edible
skin), dry (those which have a hard texture and when pressed do not feel soft), aggregate (those in which one flower
produces many tiny fruits clustered tightly together) and multiple (those which develop from a cluster of flowers).
Classify the fruits into these categories.
5.
Make a chart for vegetables within the following categories: leaves, roots, flowers and shoots. For example,
cabbage would fit into the leaves category while carrots would be in the roots category. Classify the
vegetables into these categories.
6.
Review the definition of the fruit and vegetable classifications monocots and dicots:
Dicots are flowering plants that produce seeds and two seed leaves. Most dicots also produce flowers and flowering
parts in multiples of two, four or five and leaves with branching (or netted) veins.
Monocots are flowering plants that produce seeds with one seed leaf. Most monocots also produce flowers with
flowering parts that are in multiples of three and have long, narrow leaves with parallel veins.
7.
Classify both the fruits and vegetables into these classifications.
8.
Discuss:
• Do all fruits or all vegetables fit into one classification (monocot or dicot)?
• How are the fruits and vegetables dispersed between the two classifications?
• How do you think you can further classify fruits and vegetables?
• How do you think farmers use this information in their work?
• How are these or other classifications used to display fruits and vegetables at the supermarket?
Sources:
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