A silique or siliqua (plural ''siliques'' or ''siliquae'') is a type of
fruit
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 partic ...
(seed
capsule) having two fused
carpels
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' ...
with the length being more than three times the width.
When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit it is referred to as a silicle.
The outer walls of the ovary (the ''valves'') usually separate when ripe, then being named ''dehiscent'', and leaving a persistent partition (the ''replum''). ''Siliques'' are present in many members of the mustard family,
Brassicaceae, but some species have ''silicles'' instead. Some species closely related to plants with true ''siliques'' have fruits with a similar structure that do not open when ripe; these are usually called ''indehiscent siliques'' (compare
dehiscence).
Lunaria annua MHNT.BOT.2004.0.779.jpg, Silicles of '' Lunaria annua'' – MHNT
Capsella bursa-pastoris Sturm23.jpg, '' Capsella bursa-pastoris'' with silicles
Raphanus sativus 004.jpg, Indehiscent siliques of radish '' Raphanus sativus''
See also
*
Legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...
– a fruit type that somewhat resembles a silique, but is derived from one carpel that typically splits along two sides.
References
Fruit morphology
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