To understand how many slices there are in an orange, it is necessary to know information not about the fruit, but about the flower - as a plant, to learn all about its type, inflorescence.
How does an orange blossom?
Orange ripens on the trees, which the botanists belong to the root family, the genus citrus. The fruit of the tree has a two-layer thick peel, under which lobules are located in special nests. Each of them can contain one or two seeds located in the middle, in a juicy orange pulp.
Orange blossoms with white fragrant flowers, which are usually collected in inflorescences - 6 pieces each. Sometimes they are protected by the presence of axillary shields.
Flowers are pollinated by the usual method - using bees and other insects. The fruit appears characteristic of all citrus fruits - in the upper ovary. In science, such a berry-like fruit, in which there is a division into shares, is called "hesperidium".
Each flower of a standard orange tree has a five-beam symmetry structure, and in the ovary, each nest is bifurcated. As a result, it could really be argued that in an orange there are 10 slices, if not for one exception to the rule - in some cases the “half-slices” can split again. Usually, because of this, an orange becomes a “carrier” of 12 lobules, but their number can increase to 14. Moreover, all the "extra" segments in size are slightly smaller than the main ones.
Separately, it is worth noting the "umbilical" varieties. They have at the very top of the orange several very small cloves.It is difficult to call them equivalent to the main fruit, since this is a rudimentary phenomenon. An abnormal hesperidium in them is formed at the time of flowering due to the dual sepals.
How to find out how many slices are without cutting an orange?
This method has been known since antiquity. The peoples of the southern regions were the first to think of it, where oranges produce 2-3 crops a year, it is always warm and sunny, and therefore there is a lot of time to learn natural secrets.
Each orange has a green five-pointed star at the top of the fruit. If you tear it, you can see several holes under it. In nature, every hole is a channel. How many holes, so many slices in an orange. This natural “focus” can be applied to any citrus fruit, including tangerines.
No matter how many slices in an orange - 10 or 14 - you should not forget that this fruit is extremely useful for children and adults, rich in vitamin C and other trace elements.
