Fruit types |
Description | Examples |
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Dry Indehiscent Fruits |
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Achene |
1 carpel, one seed attached to hard pericarp |
buttercup, sunflower |
Caryopsis(grain) |
fused carpel and seed coat | cereals, grasses, wheat, maize, rice |
Samara |
pericarp forms wings | maple, sycamore, ash |
Cypsela |
2 carpels, like achene, but inferior ovary | dandelion, sunflower, daisy |
Schizocarp |
syncarpous ovary splits when ripe | geranium, mallow, hollyhock |
Nut |
more than 1 carpel, woody wall | macadamia, hazel, chestnut, walnut, oak nut (acorn) |
Dry Dehiscent Fruits |
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Follicle |
1 carpel, dehisce along one margin | oleander, larkspur, grevillea, kurrajong, columbine |
Pod Legume |
1 carpel, dehisce along both margins |
Fabaceae, pea, bean, lentil, acacia, peanut, tamarind, fumewort |
Lomentum |
1 carpel, pod constricted between seeds | Desmodium, Entada, Hedysarum, Lotus |
Silique |
1 carpel | pod of Cruciferae, shepherd's purse, stock, cabbage |
Capsule |
3+ carpels, dehisce by pores or splits |
Eucalyptus, tea tree, poppy, lily, pansy, violet, iris, snapdragon |
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True Succulent Fruits, Fleshy Fruits |
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Berry |
2+ carpels, pericarp = skin epicarp, fleshy or fibrous mesocarp, thin
skin endocarp (pepo or gourd has one cavity, pulp interior) |
chillies, tomato, capsicum, eggplant, banana, gooseberry, date, currant, grape, avocado, papaya, passion fruit, allspice (pimento), pomegranate, guava, mangosteen, carambola (star fruit) (pepo: pumpkin, melon, cucumber, marrow, squash, snake gourd) |
Drupe |
1 superior carpel, pericarp = skin epicarp, fleshy or fibrous mesocarp, thin skin endocarp stony endocarp encloses seed (kernel) | apricot ("stone fruit"), almond, cashew, cherry, cocoa, coconut, coffee, mango, nutmeg, peach, pepper, plum (walnut has 2 carpels, so a walnut is not a "nut") |
"False" fruit |
False Succulent Fruits, Fleshy Fruit |
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Pome |
"core" = ovary, fleshy receptacle |
apple, pear, quince |
Hesperidium |
many fused carpels, with pulp and tough rind containing oil glands | grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange (citrus fruit) |
Aggregate fruit, syncarp |
collection of several carpels from one flower |
pineapple, custard apple, rose hip (achenes) strawberry (achenes) blackberry, breadfruit, jack fruit, fig (syconium) raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, pandanas |
Ovule | Seed |
Integuments | Seed coats |
Nucellus | Shrivels to thin papery layer |
Fusion nucleus of the embryo sac | Endosperm tissue for food storage and nutrition of the embryo. |
Ovum | Embryonic plant |
Antipodals. |
Usually shrivel, sometimes persists as absorbing mechanism for endosperm |
Synergids | Usually shrivel and are absorbed by the developing embryo |
Hermaphrodite flowers. |
Stamens and pistil in the same flower, Most familiar flowers, legumes, rose, potato, Grevillea, Primula |
Monoecious (unisexual) (diclinous) | Stamens and pistil in separate flowers on the same plant, beech, oaks, hazel, sycamore |
Dioecious (unisexual). |
Stamens and pistil in separate flowers on different plants, date palm, willow, poplar, hop |