The term compound fruit is not used in technical
botanical
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
writing, but is sometimes used when it is not clear which of several fruit types is involved. A compound fruit is "composed of two or more similar parts".
A compound fruit may be:
* An
aggregate fruit
A raspberry_beetle.html" ;"title="raspberry fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle">raspberry fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle larva) is an aggregate fruit, an aggregate of drupelets.
image:Aquilegia vulgaris 004.JPG, The fruit of an ''Aquilegi ...
, in which one flower contains several separate ovaries, which merge during development.
* A
multiple fruit
Multiple fruits, also called collective fruits, are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of flowers, the ''inflorescence''. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. After flowering, the mass is call ...
, in which several flowers, each with an ovary, develop into small fruits that are clustered or fused together into a larger fruit.
* A simple fruit formed from a
compound ovary.
Image:Frambozenkever.jpg, A raspberry
The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...
is an aggregate fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle larva)
Image:Pineapple 'Victoria' with slice.jpg, A pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...
is a multiple fruit
Image:Kumato 02.jpg, A tomato is a simple fruit derived from a compound ovary
Grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
s grow in clusters, but are not compound fruits. Each grape is grown from one ovary in one flower, and each grape remains an independent fruit.
References
Fruit morphology
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