How does fertilization cause a flower’s ovary to develop into a fruit?

Fertilization is a critical process in angiosperms that triggers the transformation of a flower’s ovary into a fruit. Following pollination, the pollen tube delivers sperm to the ovule, where double fertilization occurs: one sperm unites with the egg to form a zygote, while the other fuses with polar nuclei to create the endosperm.12

This event stimulates rapid cell division and enlargement within the ovary and ovules. As the ovules develop into seeds containing embryo plants, the ovary matures into the fruit, which serves to protect and disseminate those seeds. During this transition, other floral parts typically wither: the anthers and stigma dry up, the petals drop off, and the sepals may be shed or modified. While fertilization is the standard trigger, some plants can develop fruit without it through a process known as parthenocarpy.1345