Fruits Of Desire

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. 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.

Botanical vs. culinary

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.

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).

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 (see image). The spices chili pepper and allspice are fruits, botanically speaking. 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. 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.

Structure

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''.

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 —(see graphic: 'the parts of a flower'). 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. (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, (see graphic). 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. 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. 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) —(see image of apple-section).

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, (see graphic re 'insertion point')— 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, pineapple; see below, and "Table of fleshy fruit examples".

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. 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.

File:Nectarine Fruit Development.jpg, 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 (see image page for further information)
File:Mature flower diagram.svg, The parts of a flower, showing the stigma-style-ovary system.
File:Pome apples text.jpg, 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).
image:Ovary position.svg, upright 1.5, 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)''.)
File:Noni fruit dev.jpg, upright 1.5, 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.

Classification of fruits

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. 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, fungi are members of the fungi kingdom and not of the plant kingdom.

Simple fruits

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. 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. 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, et al., are a syncarpous (fused) fleshy fruit, a simple fruit, developing from a half-inferior ovary, see graphic re 'Insertion point'. Pomes are of the family Rosaceae,

Berries

Berries are a type of simple fleshy fruit that issue from a single ovary. (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 here and in the table below:
* tomato – In culinary terms, the tomato is regarded as a vegetable, but it is botanically classified as a fruit and a berry.
* banana – The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". 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.Esau, K. (1977). ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Numerous dry achenes are attached to the outside of the fruit-flesh, (see image); they appear to be seeds but each is actually an ovary of a flower, with a seed inside.

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