Fruit

Fruit development

The development sequence of a typical drupe, the nectarine (Prunus persica) over a 7½ month period, from bud formation in early winter to fruit ripening in midsummer (see image page for further information)

Main article: Fruit anatomy

A fruit is a ripened ovary. After the ovule in an ovary is fertilized in a process known as pollination, the ovary begins to ripen. The ovule develops into a seed and the ovary wall, the pericarp, may become fleshy (as in berries or drupes), or form a hard outer covering (as in nuts). In some cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the flower fall off. Fruit development continues until the seeds have matured. In some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules.^[11]

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. The plant hormone ethylene causes ripening. 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.^[4]

Fruits are so diverse that it is difficult to devise a classification scheme that includes all known fruits. 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 ovaries or carpels that contain the seeds. To these two basic definitions can be added the clarification that in botanical terminology, a nut is not a type of fruit and not another term for seed, on the contrary to common terminology.^[2]

There are three basic types of fruits:

1. Simple fruit
2. Aggregate fruit
3. Multiple fruit

[edit] Simple fruit

Epigynous berries are simple fleshy fruit. From top right: cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries red huckleberries

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).^[12] Types of dry, simple fruits, with examples of each, 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)
• silicle - (shepherd's purse)
• utricle - (beet)

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 - (redcurrant, gooseberry, tomato, avocado)
• stone fruit or drupe (plum, cherry, peach, apricot, olive)
• false berry - Epigynous accessory fruits (banana, cranberry)
• pome - accessory fruits (apple, pear, rosehip)

Referency WIKIPEDIA