Fruit

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Fruit (disambiguation).

Various fruits arranged at a stall in the Municipal Market of São Paulo

Fresh fruit mix of blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries

In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from

the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms)
disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propagated using the
movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means
for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; in fact, humans and
many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. [1] Consequently,
fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such
as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic
meanings.
In common language usage, fruit normally means the seed-associated fleshy structures
(or produce) of plants that typically are sweet or sour and edible in the raw state, such
as apples, bananas, grapes, lemons, oranges, and strawberries. In botanical usage, the
term fruit also includes many structures that are not commonly called 'fruits' in everyday
language, such as nuts, bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes, and wheat grains. [2][3]

Botanical vs. culinary

See also: Vegetable §  Terminology

An arrangement of fruits commonly thought of as culinary vegetables, including corn (maize), tomatoes, and

various squash

Many common language terms used for fruit and seeds differ from botanical
classifications. For example, in botany, a fruit is a ripened ovary or carpel that contains
seeds, e.g., an apple, pomegranate, tomato or a pumpkin. A nut is a type of fruit (and
not a seed), and a seed is a ripened ovule.[4]
In culinary language, a fruit is the sweet- or not sweet- (even sour-) tasting produce of a
specific plant (e.g., a peach, pear or lemon); nuts are hard, oily, non-sweet plant
produce in shells (hazelnut, acorn). Vegetables, so called, typically are savory or non-
sweet produce (zucchini, lettuce, broccoli, and tomato); but some may be sweet-tasting
(sweet potato).[5]
Examples of botanically classified fruit that typically are called vegetables
include: cucumber, pumpkin, and squash (all are cucurbits); beans, peanuts,
and peas (all legumes); corn, eggplant, bell pepper (or sweet pepper), and tomato. The
spices chili pepper and allspice are fruits, botanically speaking.[4] In contrast, rhubarb is
often called a fruit when used in making pies, but the edible produce of rhubarb is
actually the leaf stalk or petiole of the plant.[6] Edible gymnosperm seeds are often given
fruit names, e.g., ginkgo nuts and pine nuts.
Botanically, a cereal grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat is a kind of fruit (termed
a caryopsis). However, the fruit wall is thin and fused to the seed coat, so almost all the
edible grain-fruit is actually a seed.[7]

Structure
Main article: Fruit anatomy

Pomegranate fruit – whole and piece with arils

The outer layer, often edible, of most fruits is called the pericarp. Typically formed from
the ovary, it surrounds the seeds; in some species, however, other structural tissues
contribute to or form the edible portion. The pericarp may be described in three layers
from outer to inner, i.e., the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp.
Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked.[8]

Development
A fruit results from the fertilizing and maturing of one or more flowers. The gynoecium,
which contains the stigma-style-ovary system, is centered in the flower-head, and it
forms all or part of the fruit.[9] Inside the ovary(ies) are one or more ovules. Here begins
a complex sequence called double fertilization: a female gametophyte produces an egg
cell for the purpose of fertilization.[10] (A female gametophyte is called
a megagametophyte, and also called the embryo sac.) After double fertilization, the
ovules will become seeds.
Ovules are fertilized in a process that starts with pollination, which is the movement of
pollen from the stamens to the stigma-style-ovary system within the flower-head. After
pollination, a pollen tube grows from the (deposited) pollen through the stigma down the
style into the ovary to the ovule. Two sperm are transferred from the pollen to a
megagametophyte. Within the megagametophyte one sperm unites with the egg,
forming a zygote, while the second sperm enters the central cell forming the endosperm
mother cell, which completes the double fertilization process. [11][12] Later the zygote will
give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise
to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo.
As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall,
the pericarp, may become fleshy (as in berries or drupes), or it may form a hard outer
covering (as in nuts). In some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which a fleshy structure
develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. [13] The pericarp typically is
differentiated into two or three distinct layers; these are called the exocarp (outer layer,
also called epicarp), mesocarp (middle layer), and endocarp (inner layer).
In some fruits the sepals, petals, stamens and/or the style of the flower fall away as the
fleshy fruit ripens. However, for simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary – i.e., one
that lies below the attachment of other floral parts – there are parts (including petals,
sepals, and stamens) that fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. For such a case, when
floral parts other than the ovary form a significant part of the fruit that develops, it is
called an accessory fruit. Examples of accessory fruits include apple, rose hip,
strawberry and pineapple.
Because several parts of the flower besides the ovary may contribute to the structure of
a fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms.
[3]
 There are three general modes of fruit development:

 Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower (while having one or more

separate, unfused, carpels); they are the simple fruits.
 Syncarpous fruits develop from a single gynoecium (having two or more
carpels fused together).
 Multiple fruits form from many flowers – i.e., an inflorescence of flowers.

The development sequence of a typical drupe, the nectarine (Prunus persica) over a 7.5 month

period, from bud formation in early winter to fruit ripening in midsummer
 

The parts of a flower, showing the stigma-style-ovary system.

 
 

An apple is a simple fleshy fruit. Key parts are the epicarp, or exocarp, or outer skin (not
labelled); and the mezocarp and endocarp (labelled).
 

Insertion point: There are three positions of insertion of the ovary at the base of a flower: I
superior; II half-inferior; III inferior. The 'insertion point' is where the androecium parts (a), the
petals (p), and the sepals (s) all converge and attach to the receptacle (r). (Ovary=gynoecium
(g).)
 

In the noni, flowers are produced in time-sequence along the stem. It is possible to see a
progression of flowering, fruit development, and fruit ripening.
 

Twin apples
Classification of fruits

Dewberry flowers. Note the multiple pistils, each of which will produce a drupelet. Each flower will become a
blackberry-like aggregate fruit.

Dewberry fruit

Consistent with the three modes of fruit development plant scientists have classified
fruits into three main groups: simple fruits, aggregate fruits, and multiple (or composite)
fruits.[14] The groupings reflect how the ovary and other flower organs are arranged and
how the fruits develop, but they are not evolutionarily relevant as diverse plant taxa may
be in the same group.
While the section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body,[15] fungi are
members of the fungi kingdom and not of the plant kingdom.
Simple fruits
A dry simple fruit: milkweed (Asclepias syriaca); dehiscence of the follicular fruit reveals seeds within.

Simple fruits are the result of the ripening-to-fruit of a simple or compound ovary in
a single flower with a single pistil. In contrast, a single flower with numerous pistils
typically produces an aggregate fruit; and the merging of several flowers, or a 'multiple'
of flowers, results in a 'multiple' fruit.[16] A simple fruit is further classified as to whether it
is dry or fleshy.
To distribute their seeds, dry fruits may split open and discharge their seeds to the
winds, which is called dehiscence.[17] Or the distribution process may rely upon the decay
and degradation of the fruit to expose the seeds; or it may rely upon the eating of fruit
and excreting of seeds by frugivores – both are called indehiscence. Fleshy fruits do not
split open, but they also are indehiscent and they may also rely on frugivores for
distribution of their seeds. Typically, the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a
potentially edible pericarp.
Types of dry simple fruits, (with examples) include:

 Achene – most commonly seen in aggregate fruits (e.g., strawberry, see

below).
 Capsule – (Brazil nut: botanically, it is not a nut).
 Caryopsis – (cereal grains, including wheat, rice, oats, barley).
 Cypsela – an achene-like fruit derived from the individual florets in
a capitulum: (dandelion).
 Fibrous drupe – (coconut, walnut: botanically, neither is a true nut.).
 Follicle – follicles are formed from a single carpel, and opens by one suture:
(milkweed); also commonly seen in aggregate fruits: (magnolia, peony).
 Legume – (bean, pea, peanut: botanically, the peanut is the seed of a
legume, not a nut).
  Loment – a type of indehiscent legume: (sweet vetch or wild potato).
 Nut – (beechnut, hazelnut, acorn (of the oak): botanically, these are true
nuts).
 Samara – (ash, elm, maple key).
 Schizocarp, see below – (carrot seed).
 Silique – (radish seed).
 Silicle – (shepherd's purse).
 Utricle – (beet, Rumex).
Fruits in which part or all of the pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are
termed fleshy simple fruits.
Types of fleshy simple fruits, (with examples) include:

 Berry – the berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit. The entire outer
layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible "pericarp", (see below).
 Stone fruit or drupe – the definitive characteristic of a drupe is the hard,
"lignified" stone (sometimes called the "pit"). It is derived from the ovary wall
of the flower: apricot, cherry, olive, peach, plum, mango.
 Pome – the pome fruits: apples, pears, rosehips, saskatoon berry, etc., are
a syncarpous (fused) fleshy fruit, a simple fruit, developing from a half-inferior
ovary.[18] Pomes are of the family Rosaceae.
Berries
Main articles: Berry (botany) and Berry

Fruits of four different banana cultivars (Bananas are berries.)

Strawberry, showing achenes attached to surface. Botanically, strawberries are not berries; they are classified
as an aggregate accessory fruit.
Flower of Magnolia × wieseneri showing the many pistils making up the gynoecium in the middle of the flower.
The fruit of this flower is an aggregation of follicles.

Berries are a type of simple fleshy fruit that issue from a single ovary. [19] (The ovary itself
may be compound, with several carpels.) The botanical term true berry includes grapes,
currants, cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines), tomatoes, chili peppers, and bananas, but
excludes certain fruits that are called "-berry" by culinary custom or by common usage
of the term – such as strawberries and raspberries. Berries may be formed from one or
more carpels (i.e., from the simple or compound ovary) from the same, single flower.
Seeds typically are embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary.
Examples include:

 Tomato – in culinary terms, the tomato is regarded as a vegetable, but it is

botanically classified as a fruit and a berry. [20]
 Banana – the fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". [21] In cultivated
varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence.
 Pepo – berries with skin that is hardened: cucurbits, including gourds,
squash, melons.
 Hesperidium – berries with a rind and a juicy interior: most citrus fruit.
 Cranberry, gooseberry, redcurrant, grape.
The strawberry, regardless of its appearance, is classified as a dry, not a fleshy fruit.
Botanically, it is not a berry; it is an aggregate-accessory fruit, the latter term meaning
the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds
the ovaries.[22] Numerous dry achenes are attached to the outside of the fruit-flesh; they
appear to be seeds but each is actually an ovary of a flower, with a seed inside. [22]
Schizocarps are dry fruits, though some appear to be fleshy. They originate from
syncarpous ovaries but do not actually dehisce; rather, they split into segments with one
or more seeds. They include a number of different forms from a wide range of families,
including carrot, parsnip, parsley, cumin.[14]
Aggregate fruits
Main article: Aggregate fruit
Detail of the raspberry flower: there is a clustering of pistils at the center of the flower. (A pistil consists of
stigma, style, and ovary.) The stigma is the apical (at the apex) nodule that receives pollen; the style is the
stem-like column that extends down to the ovary, which is the basal part that contains the seed-forming ovule.

Lilium unripe capsule fruit; an aggregate fruit.

An aggregate fruit is also called an aggregation, or etaerio; it develops from a single

flower that presents numerous simple pistils.[16] Each pistil contains one carpel; together
they form a fruitlet. The ultimate (fruiting) development of the aggregation of pistils is
called an aggregate fruit, etaerio fruit, or simply an etaerio.
Different types of aggregate fruits can produce different etaerios, such as achenes,
drupelets, follicles, and berries.

 For example, the Ranunculaceae species,

including Clematis and Ranunculus, produces an etaerio of achenes;
 Rubus species, including raspberry: an etaerio of drupelets;
 Calotropis species: an etaerio of follicles fruit;
 Annona species: an etaerio of berries.[23][24]
Some other broadly recognized species and their etaerios (or aggregations) are:
  Teasel; fruit is an aggregation of cypselas.
 Tuliptree; fruit is an aggregation of samaras.
 Magnolia and peony; fruit is an aggregation of follicles.
 American sweet gum; fruit is an aggregation of capsules.
 Sycamore; fruit is an aggregation of achenes.
The pistils of the raspberry are called drupelets because each pistil is like a
small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits such as blackberry the
receptacle, an accessory part, elongates and then develops as part of the fruit, making
the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit.[25] The strawberry is also an aggregate-
accessory fruit, of which the seeds are contained in the achenes.[26] Notably in all these
examples, the fruit develops from a single flower, with numerous pistils.
Multiple fruits
Main article: Multiple fruit
A multiple fruit is formed from a cluster of flowers, (a 'multiple' of flowers) – also called
an inflorescence. Each ('smallish') flower produces a single fruitlet, which, as all
develop, all merge into one mass of fruit. [27] Examples
include pineapple, fig, mulberry, Osage orange, breadfruit. An inflorescence (a cluster)
of white flowers, called a head, is produced first. After fertilization, each flower in the
cluster develops into a drupe; as the drupes expand, they develop as a connate organ,
merging into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarp.
Progressive stages of multiple flowering and fruit development can be observed on a
single branch of the Indian mulberry, or noni. During the sequence of development, a
progression of second, third, and more inflorescences are initiated in turn at the head of
the branch or stem.
Accessory fruit forms
Main article: Accessory fruit
Fruits may incorporate tissues derived from other floral parts besides the ovary,
including the receptacle, hypanthium, petals, or sepals. Accessory fruits occur in all
three classes of fruit development – simple, aggregate, and multiple. Accessory fruits
are frequently designated by the hyphenated term showing both characters. For
example, a pineapple is a multiple-accessory fruit. a blackberry is an aggregate-
accessory fruit, and an apple is a simple-accessory fruit.
Table of fleshy fruit examples
Types of fleshy fruits

Type Examples

Simple True berry, stone fruit, pome

fleshy
 fruit

Aggregate
Boysenberry, lilium, magnolia, raspberry, pawpaw, blackberry, strawberry
fruit

Multiple
Fig, osage orange, mulberry, pineapple
fruit

Banana, blackcurrant, blueberry, chili
True
pepper, cranberry, eggplant, gooseberry, grape, guava, kiwifruit, lucuma, pomegranate, redcurra
berry
nt, tomato, watermelon

True
berry: Cucumber, gourd, melon, pumpkin
Pepo

True
berry:
Grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange
Hesperidi
um

Accessory
Apple, rose hip, stone fruit, pineapple, blackberry, strawberry
fruit

Seedless fruits

The fruit of a pineapple includes tissue from the sepals as well as the pistils of many flowers. It is a multiple-
accessory fruit.
Seedlessness is an important feature of some fruits of commerce.
Commercial cultivars of bananas and pineapples are examples of seedless fruits. Some
cultivars of citrus fruits (especially grapefruit, mandarin oranges, navel
oranges), satsumas, table grapes, and