Fruits

Introduction to Fruits

Fruits are the mature ovaries or pistils of flowering plants plus any associated accessory parts.
Accessory parts are organs attached to a fruit but not derived directly from the ovary or ovaries,
including the bracts, axes, receptacle, compound receptacle (in multiple fruits), hypanthium, or perianth.
The term pericarp (rind, in the vernacular) is used for the fruit wall, derived from the mature ovary wall.
The pericarp is sometimes divisible into layers: Endocarp, mesocarp, and exocarp.

Fruit types

Fruit types are based first on fruit development. The three major fruit developments are;

1. Simple - derived from a single pistil of one flower

2. Aggregate- derived from multiple pistils of a single flower, thus having an apocarpous
gynoecium
3. Multiple - derived from many coalescent flowers

In aggregate or multiple fruits, the component derived from an individual pistil is called a unit fruit. The
term infructescence may be used to denote a mature inflorescence in fruit.

1. Simple Fruit Types

The simple fruit type, as well as unit fruit types of aggregate and multiple fruits, are classified
based on a number of criteria, including (1) whether fleshy (succulent) or dry at maturity; (2)
whether indehiscent (not splitting open at maturity) or dehiscent (splitting open along definite
pores, slits, or sutures); (3) if dehiscent, the type (e.g., location, shape, and direction) of
dehiscence; (4) carpel and locule number, including presence of septa; (5) seed/ovule number;
(6) placentation; (7) structure of the pericarp wall; and (8) ovary position.

One class of simple fruits are those that are dry and indehiscent at maturity.

i. Achene - An achene is a one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with seed attached to the
pericarp at one point only, such as the unit fruits of sunflowers.
ii. Anthocarp - An anthocarp or diclesium is an achene or nut, surrounded by the persistent
and accrescent perianth, as in Pontederia or the Nyctaginaceae.
iii. Grain - A grain or caryopsis is a one-seeded, dry, indehiscent fruit with the seed coat
adnate to pericarp wall; grains are the fruit type of all Poaceae (grasses). (The embryo of
grain crops is known as germ, as in “wheat germ”; the pericarp and seed coat together are
the bran.)
iv. Nut - A nut is a oneseeded, dry indehiscent fruit with a hard pericarp, usually derived
from a one-loculed ovary. (Nuts and achenes may intergrade; the terms are sometimes
used interchangeably.)
 v. Samara - A samara is a winged, dry, usually indehiscent fruit, as in Acer (maple) and
Ulmus (elm).
vi. Tryma - A tryma is a nut surrounded by an involucre that dehisces at maturity, such as in
Carya (pecan).

Other simple fruits are dry and dehiscent at maturity. Most dry, dehiscent fruits open by means
of a valve, pore, or mericarp (see later discussion). However, some, of various fruit types, are
explosively dehiscent, i.e., will open with force (by various mechanisms), functioning to eject the
seeds.

i. Capsule - A general type of dry, dehiscent fruit is the capsule. Capsules are generally dry
(rarely fleshy), dehiscent fruits derived from compound (multicarpeled) ovaries. Several
types of capsules can be recognized based on the type or location of dehiscence.
ii. Follicle - A follicle is a dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along one
suture, such as in the unit fruits of Magnolia.
iii. Legume - A legume is a dry, dehiscent fruit derived from one carpel that splits along two
longitudinal sutures; legumes are the diagnostic fruit type of the Fabaceae, the legume
family.
iv. Siliques - Silicles and siliques are dry, dehiscent fruits derived from a two-carpeled ovary
that dehisces along two sutures but that has an outer rim, the replum, and a persistent,
thin partition, the false septum.
v. Schizocarp - Finally, a schizocarp is a dry, dehiscent fruit type derived from a two or
more loculed compound ovary in which the locules separate at maturity. The individual
unit fruits containing each locule can be defined based on other simple fruit types.
Another class of simple fruits includes those that, at maturity, are fleshy or succulent. Fleshy
fruits are general adaptations for seed dispersal by animals, the succulent pericarp being the
reward (with at least some seeds either falling out or passing through the animal’s gut
unharmed). The pericarp of some fleshy fruits may be divided into layers. These pericarp wall
layers, if present, are termed the endocarp (the innermost wall layer), mesocarp (the middle wall
layer), and exocarp (the outermost wall layer); if only two layers are evident, the terms endocarp
and exocarp alone are used.

i. Berry - A berry is the general, unspecialized term for a fruit with a succulent pericarp, as
in Vitis, grape.
ii. Drupe - A drupe is a fruit with a hard, stony endocarp and a fleshy mesocarp, as in
Prunus (peach, plum, cherry, etc.).
iii. Pyrene - The term pyrene can be used either for a fleshy fruit in which each of two or
more seeds is enclosed by a usually bony-textured endocarp, or pyrene can refer to the
seed covered by a hard endocarp unit itself, regardless of number.
iv. Hesperidium - A hesperidium is a septate fleshy fruit with a thick-skinned, leathery
outer pericarp wall and fleshy modified trichomes (juice sacs) arising from the inner
walls, as in Citrus (orange, lemon, grapefruit, etc.).
v. Pepo - A pepo is a nonseptate fleshy fruit with parietal placentation and a leathery
exocarp derived from an inferior ovary, the fruit type of the Cucurbitaceae.
vi. Pome - A pome is a fleshy fruit with a cartilaginous endocarp derived from an inferior
ovary, with the bulk of the fleshy tissue from the outer, adnate hypanthial tissue, as in
Malus (apple) and Pyrus (pear).
2. Aggregate Fruit Types
An aggregate fruit is one derived from two or more pistils (ovaries) of one flower. In
determining the aggregate fruit type (Figure 9.43), one first identifies the unit fruit that
corresponds to a single pistil. The aggregate fruit type is then indicated either as aggregate
fruit of” the particular unit fruits or by adding the suffix “-acetum” to the unit fruit term.

i. Achenecetum - An achenecetum is an aggregate fruit of achenes. A common

example is Fragaria, strawberry, in which the achenes are on the surface of accessory
tissue, an enlarged, fleshy receptacle.
ii. Drupecetum - A drupecetum is an aggregate fruit of drupes, as in Rubus, raspberry
or blackberry.
iii. Follicetum - A follicetum is an aggregate fruit of follicles, as occurs in Magnolia.
iv. Syncarp - A syncarp is an aggregate fruit, typically of berries, in which the unit fruits
fuse together, as in Annona. (Note that syncarps may form at the floral stage or later
during fruit development; if the latter, the fruit is sometimes called a pseudosyncarp.)

3. Multiple Fruit Types

A multiple fruit is one derived from two or more flowers that coalesce. In determining the
multiple fruit type, one may also identify the unit fruit corresponding to a single pistil of a
single flower; the fruit type may be indicated as a “multiple fruit of” the particular unit fruit
present. Some specialized multiple fruit types are as follows;

i. Bur - A bur is a multiple fruit of achenes or grains surrounded by a prickly involucre,

such as in Cenchrus, sandbur (Poaceae), or Xanthium, cocklebur (Asteraceae).
ii. Sorosis - A sorosis is a multiple fruit in which the unit fruits are fleshy berries and are
laterally fused along a central axis, as in Ananas, pineapple.
iii. Syconium - A syconium is a multiple fruit in which the unit fruits are small achenes
covering the surface of a fleshy, inverted compound receptacle (derived from a
hypanthodium), as in Ficus, fig.