Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Summer time and the living is easy! For those who don’t quite agree on the second part of Ella Fitzgerald’s line, we got a little proof for you. Nothing screams “sunshine” as much as berries, and people are going crazy about the beauty of their life cycles.
It all started when a Twitter user named Alfie shared a picture of blackberries in their different stages of life, all arranged in a circle. The caption said: “Blackberries have cool stages of life, no?" A whopping 1.1M who hit like couldn’t agree more. In no time, people got on the bandwagon posting their own berry, fruit, leaf, and flower assemblages.
Visually satisfying and emotionally refreshing, berry evolution pics are now reminding us that the beauty of nature can fit in the palm of your hand.
(h/t mymodernmet)
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Life Cycle Of Cotton
Yvonne Blau 5 years ago
So it looks like cotton is actually the plant's seeds (??)... never thought about it before
M O'Connell 5 years ago
The part we use for fiber is the 'pappus' It's a fibrous flag attached to the seed. In wild plants it helps the seed disperse by wind, but over the last few thousand years cotton has been selectively bred for it's over-size pappus for human use.
Load More Replies...
RELATED:
#2
Coffee
Baali Venomax 5 years ago
Me too. I think the one with blackberries should have ended in a pie :D
Load More Replies...
#3
Life Cycle Of A Blackberry
Dynein 5 years ago
Anyone in for a small botany lesson about why this is not a "real" berry? As you probably know, flowers have male organs, the stamen which contain the pollen, and female organs, called pistil, which receive the pollen at the tip and have a roundish base at the bottom - the ovary. The ovules, which develop into seeds upon conception, are inside the ovary. The pollen consists of 3 cells - the job of one is to grow through the entire pistil to the ovary, where the two contained sperm cells are released. Have you ever really noticed how long flower pistils can be?! And the pollen has to stretch all the way to the bottom! I'm in awe whenever I see a female maize flower. The protruding threads, which usually remain on the cob, are the pistils. So VERY long. And the pollen grows all the way, oh my god. (to be continued in an answer to this comment...)
Dynein 5 years ago
Anyway, an individual fruit is a single ripe pistil, i.e. round middle part of the flower with thin tip. Now, look at the blackberry closely... Every single green "ball" has its own tip and is therefore a single pistil! You'll also notice that the seeds are not gathered together in the middle or middle row of the fruit - they are in the middle of each individual "ball", which is another hint that these are individual ovaries. The blackberry is therefore a so-called "aggregate fruit", a collection of ripe ovaries which were part of the same flower and spread their seeds as a unit. The specific type of fruit is determined from the morphology of the single fruits. Thin skin with soft flesh and a single seed inside, like a cherry - lookit, a stone fruit!
Load More Replies...
*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 5 years ago
AND THEY'RE A PAIN IN THE F*****G A*S TO COMPLETELY RID FROM YOUR F*****G FRONT GARDEN. DON'T GET A BLACKBERRY PLANT, FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR NEIGHBORS.
Rob Chapman 5 years ago
These grow wild all over my backyard. I make jam, preserves, and juice. Yummy.
We usually think of berries as a small, squishy type of fruit that can be picked off plants, but the scientific classification is far more complicated than that.
Berry nomenclature is so confusing “because people called certain fruits 'berries' thousands of years before scientists came up with a precise definition for the word,” believes Judy Jernstedt, who’s a professor of plant sciences at the University of California.
An interesting fact about berries is that in order to be one, it must bear two or more seeds. “Thus, a cherry, which has just one seed, doesn't make the berry cut,” Jernstedt explained. "They’re called drupes.”
#4
Since We’re Into Strawberry Cycles, I Sent The Post To My Dad (A Berry Farmer) And He Sent Me This:
Martha Meyer 5 years ago
Remember when strawberries were normal sized and tasted like strawberry instead of giant and tasting like crunchy water?
Chewie Baron 5 years ago
And they were only available for six weeks if the year? Now they're all year round and grown in greenhouses in Southern Spain.
Load More Replies...
Kayla Albert 5 years ago
I have a strawberry plant and I can only get it to the 4th stage before some animals eat it!
Molly Block 5 years ago
My dads, father, my papa, used to be a strawberry farmer in the late 60's and early 70's. I was a tot, sitting in strawberry fields, cramming my mouth full of them. I didn't even have two teeth, hahaha. Unfortunately, I don't remember any of it.
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
Strawberries are the only plant that have flowers, green berries, and ripe berries all on the same plant at the same time.
M O'Connell 5 years ago
It depends on the variety of berry. Many commercial varieties have been bred to bear all their fruit at once and have it ripen at the same time to make harvesting much easier. Wild and garden-variety berries often exhibit indeterminate grown patterns, with flowers maturing and producing fruit throughout the season.
Load More Replies...
Lindsay Ameye 5 years ago
Have some in my garden, it's so amazing to see them grow from flowers into juicy delicious strawberries!
#5
Life Cycle Of Tree Leaf
Madison Lam 5 years ago (edited)
This is so aesthetically pleasing, so much that its KILLING me
mph seti 5 years ago
Google Andy Goldsworthy if you haven't already heard of him. He makes art like this, out in nature, photographs it, and leaves it to decay. It's all natural materials (leaves, sticks, stones, etc.).
Load More Replies...
shivam srivastava 5 years ago
https://techbugs.in/support-sushant-singh-rajputs-new-word-trend-in-india-nepotism/ Support Sushant Singh Rajput’s | New word trend In India “Nepotism” how to sushant singh rajput death/murder see now.
Podunkus 5 years ago
Mmmmmm... petrichor and geosmin. https://theconversation.com/heres-why-soil-smells-so-good-after-it-rains-135978
Load More Replies...
#6
My Girlfriend Happened To Catch All 3 Stages In A Ladybugs Life Cycle On A Single Leaf!
Doggi 5 years ago
At my house, we have tons of ladybug larvae. It’s fun to see them all hatch.
Toni 5 years ago
you can be lucky to have so many ladybugs in your garden
Load More Replies...
Vanilla Rose 5 years ago
Omg there were so many of those larva in elementary school on the play ground. I always thought they were so gross.
Load More Replies... 
Goo Lagoon 5 years ago (edited)
That's actually a lacewing larva, they also eat aphids like ladybug larvae. But that really is a ladybug pupa.
And when it feels like berries can't be more confusing, it turns out, yes, they can. Linda Ly, a botanist and blogger at Garden Betty, explains another bizarre botanical fact, which is that a banana is, in fact, a berry.
“During the flowering stage, an inflorescence, a banana heart, appears on the end of the stem. It is usually a long, tapered, tightly wrapped, deep purple bud.” As the buds open, “they reveal double rows of nectar-rich blossoms that make bees and hummingbirds go wild over them.”
Linda concludes that “Because the fruit is produced from a single ovary on the flower, a banana is actually classified as a berry, botanically speaking.”
#7
My Dad Sent Over The Blueberry Cycle!
Dynein 5 years ago
Now THESE are real berries! Single structure grown from a single pistil, with the seeds all bundled up together inside.
maia james 5 years ago
i didn’t realize blueberries had a stage where they had a pretty teal color
#8
Life Cycle Of A Bleeding Heart
Emmy Harris 5 years ago
Did you ever take apart a bleeding heart blossom? First, remove the pink parts for mother's slippers, then find father's fish hooks, sister's ballet slippers and brother's ballet!
Dorothy Cloud 5 years ago
They almost look like an animal or person. Even a dancer. Really pretty'
#9
Lemon Lifecycle
#10
Cacao Life Cycle
Dorothy Cloud 5 years ago
Aren't there seeds or pods or something inside that is dried & crushed?
#11
Blackberry
#12
Mulberries
Cori 5 years ago
We have a tree in my yard and my kids have been stained purple for awhile now.
I don't think so... 5 years ago
I spent half of my childhood stained purple 😂 Lemons are good for cleaning mulberry juice off (lemon tree next to mulberry tree!)
Load More Replies... Molly Block 5 years ago
They look just like blackberries. Can someone tell me how to tell the difference? Do mulberry bushes have thorns too like blackberries? Do they taste different?
Bhadrika Love 5 years ago
Very mildly sweet. Grows on a tree, no thorns. Amazing jam.
Load More Replies... 
Anna McHugh 5 years ago
I know this sounds ridiculous, but I can't eat mulberries without thinking that I'm eating silkworms. I just can't do it...
D-m Keilman 5 years ago
I have two mulberry trees behind my back yard. Never thought about making jam with them tho. Hmmmm....
Pani Trakovická 5 years ago
I have a really small garden and always wanted to have a mulberry tree. This spring I found out there`s a pendula type on the market, so now I can eat my first berries.
#13
These Tiny Wild Strawberries, One Of Two Species Native To Atlantic Canada, Are Easy To Miss, Hiding Close To The Ground Under Their Much Larger Leaves
Sue Sanders 5 years ago
Two years ago we sold our house, which had tons of wild strawberries in the back. I often wonder if the new owners - it pains me to refer to them like that - realize what treasures they have in that part of the property, along with wild violets, those wonderful strawberries, and more varieties than I can list. I'm homesick.
#14
Strawberry Life Cycle
Aski Markup 5 years ago
Am I the only one whose been totally put of strawberries by the prior post on bored panda? You know, the one with it being filled with tiny worms? 🤮
Dynein 5 years ago
I already gave a basic botany lesson in a comment to the blackberry, and for anyone who hasn't been put off by my constant explanations - the strawberry is another fun example of an aggregate fruit. It's not fully visible here, but you can vaguely notice that middle part flower has a soft haze, like fur. Strawberry pistils are tiny - that cone in the middle is just a thickened base and and separate from the female flower parts. The pistils are the little specks on top, which develop into the "seeds" on the outside of a ripe strawberry. Except they aren't seeds, they are individual fruit because the developed from individual pistils :) The actual seed is on the inside, each fruit contains a single one. Don't be confused by the size and the hard outer layer. Nuts are fruit, too, and these ARE nuts! Very very small ones all bundled together, but nuts nonetheless.
#15
Oysters At Different Stages Of Growth
#16
Life Cycle Of My Raspberries
#17
Life Cycle
Dynein 5 years ago
Ooh, dandelions are weird, too! Dandelion flowers (as well as most flowers in their family) are really a COLLECTION of flowers. A single flowers is defined by being its own unit with, from outside to inside, petals, stamens, and pistils. The number of each can vary, and parts can be missing (there can be separate male and female flowers, and sometimes the petals are reduced), but the order cannot vary. Looking closely at a dandelion flower, you'll notice that it consists of individual parts - a leafy decorative structure (the petal(s)), which surrounds some stamen and has a little "thread" in the middle that's split at the tip - the upper part of the pistil. The whole structure sits on top of a green round base, which is the bottom of the pistil, i.e. the ovary. If all pistils shared the same stamens and petals, they'd be considered a single flower, but that's not the case, so each petals/stamens/pistil(s) bundle is counted separately.
ElusiveIntrovert 5 years ago
Dynein, though the aesthetics of the lifecycles are intriguing and pleasing in itself, I guess I am enjoying your comments more. Reminded me of my botany teacher.
Load More Replies...
Addison Chung 5 years ago
Did you know that if you put a dandelion flower in your hair, it turns a bit black at the edges?
#18
Salmonberry Life Cycle
Tracey Hirt 5 years ago
They’re found mostly in Washington, Oregon, and California. I live in Washington, and they’re pretty commonly found in the forests bordering lakes.
Load More Replies...
D-m Keilman 5 years ago
I have been dying to try these. If you watch YouTube videos about rare fruits the salmon berry can usually be found. They say it makes a fantastic jam.
#19
Life Is A Cycle , The End Of One Journey Is The Beginning Of Next "Chill's Cycle"
#20
Coffee Beans
#21
Life Cycle Of Jamun (Malabar Plum)
#22
Milkweed
Nicky OldfieldDesciple 5 years ago
Beautiful colours. I am a Synesthete. I see colours when I hear music and the colours of these flowers are exactly the colours I see when I hear the song "I'll find My Way Home " by Jon and Vangelis.
Angie Scanes 5 years ago
Have you ever made a Panda post showing what different things your wonderful brain links??? I'd love to read it - if not, do one please!!!
Load More Replies...
BeazleBug 5 years ago
This is commonly known as "butterfly milkweed" and/or "swamp milkweed" in north America. It is a favorite of pollinators in general and one of the half dozen or so hosts for monarch butterflies, milkweed red longhorn beetles, and the milkweed tussock moth. (The latter being the black, yellow and white fuzzy caterpillars with a rather drab moth...also the hairs will make you itch and may cause allergic reaction is sensitive folks.)
#23
That Beautiful Life Cycle
Tracey Hirt 5 years ago
I was today years old when I found out mice eat insects. 🤯
Load More Replies...
I love Hermione 5 years ago
AAAAAAAAAAAH I HATE BUGS GET AWAY FROM ME EEEEEEEEEEW BEETLE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW no offense bug lovers I'm just really squeamish
Ruma Walker 5 years ago
The courage to hold ALL of this on your hand long enough to take a photo... b*lls of iron :D
Elizabeth Smith 5 years ago
Super worms!! My bearded dragon loves them. Yes they are quite disgusting and bite as well. I use tongs to put them in a bowl lol
Fuzzy spectrum 5 years ago
My mother breeds them for her turtle. Just give them scraps of bread, lettuce and porridge oats
#24
In The Style Of The Strawberry Pics A Few Days Ago, Here's Our Aubergine Plants Ordered By Their Growth Stage
SoozeeQ 5 years ago
Would have preferred to see the actual stages of growth, rather than just a green plant whose leaves are getting larger. This wiki page has some cool pictures including the flowers, the mature purple eggplant and the small white eggplant (presumably where it got its name from). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Some trolls must have passed by so you have an upvote from me. Who couldn't love this!
Load More Replies... Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
A beautiful and soothing post. We need to relearn how to live in harmony with the rest of nature because we are simply a small part of it.
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Yes, we need learn how to NOT kill everything living around us, because we are a small, however, only destructive part of it all.
Load More Replies...
RitaGG 5 years ago
Beautiful pictures! I appreciate they didn't include pictures of people. I would be far past the mid point and feeling quite down today.
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Can you imagine if they wanted to document the life cycle of a human being and they would kill each individual at every stage of development? Would you say it so beautiful, so interesting, so informative? You would be horrified, you would say why that massacre? What's wrong with you "scientists"? It's essentially the same here. Every little life is big to those living it.!!! Please do not forget it.
Load More Replies...
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Why was it necessary to take a life out of the life cycle??? Why not take pictures of each life stage of the same plant???? Why do people have to kill nineteen of them? Live and let live.
Gilda 5 years ago
I find this very calming would make an awesome arm band tattoo I would say a good tattoo around the belly button but I got a stomach tattoo without much forethought into future pregnancy and let's just say my daughter left me with more than the usual wear of pregnancy by stretching that tattoo into complete nonsense lol
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Some trolls must have passed by so you have an upvote from me. Who couldn't love this!
Load More Replies... Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
A beautiful and soothing post. We need to relearn how to live in harmony with the rest of nature because we are simply a small part of it.
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Yes, we need learn how to NOT kill everything living around us, because we are a small, however, only destructive part of it all.
Load More Replies... RitaGG 5 years ago
Beautiful pictures! I appreciate they didn't include pictures of people. I would be far past the mid point and feeling quite down today.
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Can you imagine if they wanted to document the life cycle of a human being and they would kill each individual at every stage of development? Would you say it so beautiful, so interesting, so informative? You would be horrified, you would say why that massacre? What's wrong with you "scientists"? It's essentially the same here. Every little life is big to those living it.!!! Please do not forget it.
Load More Replies... Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Why was it necessary to take a life out of the life cycle??? Why not take pictures of each life stage of the same plant???? Why do people have to kill nineteen of them? Live and let live.
Gilda 5 years ago
I find this very calming would make an awesome arm band tattoo I would say a good tattoo around the belly button but I got a stomach tattoo without much forethought into future pregnancy and let's just say my daughter left me with more than the usual wear of pregnancy by stretching that tattoo into complete nonsense lol
You May Like 141 Nature Quotes To Help You Appreciate The Outdoors 106 Epic Yearbook Quotes That People Just Had To Share 49 Body Things That Make People Panic But Are Totally Normal, According To Doctors
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Mantas Kačerauskas
Justinas Keturka
Related on Bored Panda
