From Flower to Fruit

Anne Ophelia Dowden meticulously describes and pictures, in full-color paintings and exquisite black-and-white drawings, the amazing variety of fruits made by flowering plants. Using specimens she has collected from all over the world, she explains how fertilization occurs, how seeds are produced, and how flowers mature into fruits. Here are over 150 fruit forms—from dry seed pods such as the lily and milkweed, with its tufted seeds, to hard-shelled nuts like hickory and acorn, and the familiar fleshy fruits of the cherry, blackberry, cucum ber, and fig. Ms. Dowden's minutely detailed illustrations and lucid, precise text reveal the intricate inner processes of life in its most elemental visible form.