Why do plants produce fruit?

The answer is #3

1. It lets the plant store food for the winter.

   The fruit will fall off the plant when it is ripe, so the plant would not be able to get the food back in winter.

2. It keeps animals from eating the rest of the plant.

   Animals attracted by the fruit often eat other parts of the plant too.

3. It is a way to get animals to carry the plant's seeds to new locations.

   When an animal eats the fruit, it often swallows the seeds. Those seeds pass through its digestive system without being digested, and wind up in the animal's waste. This way, the seeds wind up far from the parent plant, growing in new areas.

4. The plant needs important nutrients from the fruit that falls to the ground.

   All of the nutrients in the fruit came from the plant. There are no new nutrients in the fruit that the plant did not already have.

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