In botany, a pome is a type of fruit produced by

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the subtribe

Malinae Malinae is the name for the apple subtribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. This name is required by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, which came into force in 2011 (article 19) for any group at the subtribe rank ...

of the family Rosaceae. Well-known pomes include the

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

, and quince.

Etymology

The word ''pome'' entered English in the late 14th century, and referred to an apple or an apple-shaped object. It derived from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

word for "apple": (12th century; modern French is ), which in turn derived from the

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

word "apple", originally the plural of Latin "fruit", later "apple".

Morphology

A pome is an

accessory fruit An accessory fruit is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the floral ovary but from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel.Esau, K. 1977. ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Accessory fruits are u ...

composed of one or more

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

s surrounded by accessory tissue. The accessory tissue is interpreted by some specialists as an extension of the receptacle and is then referred to as "fruit cortex",Esau, K. 1977. ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York. and by others as a fused

hypanthium In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

(floral cup). It is the most edible part of this fruit. The carpels of a pome are fused within the "core". Although the

epicarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggre ...

mesocarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Agg ...

, and

endocarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggr ...

of some other fruit types look very much like the skin, flesh, and core respectively of a pome, they are parts of the carpel (see above diagram). The

and

of a pome may be fleshy and difficult to distinguish from one another and from the hypanthial tissue. The endocarp forms a leathery or stony case around the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

, and corresponds to what is commonly called the core. Pome-type fruit with stony rather than leathery

may be called a polypyrenous drupe. The shriveled remains of the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

and stamens can sometimes be seen at the end of a pome opposite the stem, and the ovary is therefore often described as inferior in these flowers.

Examples

The best-known example of a pome is the apple. Other examples of plants that produce fruit classified as a pome are ''

Cotoneaster ''Cotoneaster'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region (temperate Asia, Europe, north Africa), with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China an ...

'', '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn and mayhaw),

medlar ''Mespilus germanica'', known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. The fruit of this tree, also called medlar, has been cultivated since Roman times, is usually available in winter and ea ...

, pear, ''

Pyracantha ''Pyracantha'' (from Greek "fire" and "thorn", hence firethorn) is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to ...

'', quince, rowan,

loquat The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family R ...

toyon ''Heteromeles arbutifolia'' (; more commonly by Californian botanists), commonly known as toyon, is a common perennial shrub native to extreme southwest Oregon, California, and the Baja California Peninsula. It is the sole species in the genus ...

, and

whitebeam The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, comprising subgenus ''Aria'' (or, according to some authorities, its own genus) of genus ''Sorbus'', and hybrids involving species of this subgenus and members of subgenera ''Sorbus'', ''Torminar ...

. Some pomes may have a mealy texture (e.g., some apples); others (e.g., '' Amelanchier'', ''

Aronia ''Aronia'' is a genus of deciduous shrubs, the chokeberries, in the family Rosaceae native to eastern North America and most commonly found in wet woods and swamps. The genus Aronia is considered to have 3 species. The most common and wi ...

'') are berry-like with juicy flesh and a core that is not very noticeable.

References

External links

* {{fruits Fruit morphology

Etymology

Morphology

Examples

See also

References

External links