Fruit

In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plants they come from.

Fruit development

After an ovule is fertilized in a process known as pollination, the ovary begins to expand. The petals of the flower fall off and the ovule develops into a seed. The ovary eventually comes to form, along with other parts of the flower in many cases, a structure surrounding the seed or seeds that is the fruit. Fruit development continues until the seeds have matured. With some multiseeded fruits the extent of development of the flesh of the fruit is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules.

Related Topics:
Fertilize - Petal - Flower - Ovule - Seed

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The wall of the fruit, developed from the ovary wall of the flower, is called the pericarp. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp (outer layer - also called epicarp), mesocarp (middle layer), and endocarp (inner layer). In some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower (such as the floral tube, including the petals, sepals, and stamens), fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit. Since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms.

Related Topics:
Petal - Sepal - Stamen - Accessory fruit

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fruits are so varied in form and development, that it is difficult to devise a classification scheme that includes all known fruits. It will also be seen that many common terms for seeds and fruit are incorrectly applied, a fact that complicates understanding of the terminology. Seeds are ripened ovules; fruits are the ripened ovularies or carpels that contain the seeds. To these two basic definitions can be added the clarification that in botanical terminology, a nut is a type of fruit and not another term for seed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are three basic types of fruits:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Simple fruit
• Aggregate fruit
• Multiple fruit

Simple fruit

Simple fruits can be either dry or fleshy and result from the ripening of a simple or compound ovary with only one pistil. Dry fruits may be either dehiscent (opening to discharge seeds), or indehiscent (not opening to discharge seeds). Types of dry, simple fruits (with examples) are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• achene - (buttercup)
• capsule - (Brazil nut)
• caryopsis - (wheat)
• fibrous drupe - (coconut, walnut)
• follicle - (milkweed)
• legume - (pea, bean, peanut)
• loment
• nut - (hazelnut, beech, oak acorn)
• samara - (elm, ash, maple key)
• schizocarp - (carrot)
• silique - (radish)
• utricle

Fruits in which part or all of the pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are simple fleshy fruits. Types of fleshy, simple fruits (with examples) are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• berry - (tomato, avocado)
• drupe - (plum, cherry, peach, olive)
• false berry - accessory fruits (banana, cranberry)
• pome - accessory fruits (apple, pear, rosehip)

Aggregate fruit

An aggregate fruit, or etaerio, develops from a flower with numerous simple pistils. An example is the raspberry, whose simple fruits are termed drupelets because each is like a small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits (such as blackberry) the receptacle is elongate and part of the ripe fruit, making the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit. The strawberry is also an aggregate-accessory fruit, only one in which the seeds are contained in achenes. In all these examples, the fruit develops from a single flower with numerous pistils.

Related Topics:
Raspberry - Drupe - Bramble - Blackberry - Achene

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Multiple fruit

A multiple fruit is one formed from a cluster of flowers (called an inflorescence). Each flower produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. Examples are the pineapple, edible fig, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfruit.

Related Topics:
Inflorescence - Pineapple - Fig - Mulberry - Osage-orange - Breadfruit

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the photograph on the right, stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they connate (merge) into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarp.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~