A 

pyrena or pyrene (commonly called a "pit" or "stone") is the fruitstone within

a drupe or drupelet produced by the ossification of the endocarp or lining of the fruit.[1] It consists of a
hard endocarp tissue surrounding one or more seeds (also called the "kernel").[2][3] The hardened
endocarp which constitutes the pyrene provides a protective physical barrier around the seed,
shielding it from pathogens and herbivory.[4]
While many drupes are monopyrenous, containing only one pyrene, pome-type fruit with a hard,
stony (rather than leathery) endocarp are typically polypyrenous drupes, containing multiple pyrenes.
[5]

Historical taxonomy[edit]
The family was traditionally divided into six
subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae (Pomoideae), Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae),
Neuradoideae, and Chrysobalanoideae, and most of these were treated as families by various
authors.[8][9] More recently (1971), Chrysobalanoideae was placed in Malpighiales in molecular
analyses and Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales. Schulze-Menz, in Engler's Syllabus
edited by Melchior (1964) recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae,
Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae.[10] They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits. More
recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson (1964)[11] and
Kalkman (2004) [12] recognized only tribes (17 and 21, respectively). Takhtajan (1997) delimited 21
tribes in 10 subfamilies:[2] Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae,
Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Spireoideae, Maloideae (Pyroideae),
Dichotomanthoideae. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which (Rosoideae)
has largely remained the same.
While the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is no general agreement as to how
many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment
of Potentilla s.l. and Sorbus s.l.. Compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several
genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera,
due to the difficulty of dividing apomictic complexes into species. For example, Cotoneaster contains
between 70 and 300 species, Rosa around 100 (including the taxonomically complex dog
roses), Sorbus 100 to 200 species, Crataegus between 200 and 1,000, Alchemilla around 300
species, Potentilla roughly 500, and Rubus hundreds, or possibly even thousands of species.