Barbelith Underground > Conversation > Coffee beans are not the only fruit

You spiked my interest on a thread below, now locked, with some remarks about species of fruit. I remember hearing somewhere that apples are basically deformed and genetically mutated pears, and that tomatoes and nuts are really fruits, so I investigated and found out some arcane fruit facts.

adapted from this taxonomical extravaganza

Fruits may be categorised according to whether the mature fruit is fleshy (juicy) or dry.

There are three major categories of fleshy fruit:
drupes, berries and pomes

The drupe has a stony inner layer surrounding (usually) a single seed. This fruit has a pit. Examples are:
cherries,
coffee,
coconuts,
almonds and
peaches.

A berry is a fleshy fruit that has no stony layer in the fruit, but contains seeds. Good examples of classic berries are:
grapes and
tomatoes.

The berries that develop in citrus flowers have exceedingly oily surface layers over a pithy subtending layer. The specialized berry in citrus fruit is known as a hesperidium. Examples are:
lemons,
limes,
oranges, and
grapefruit.

Other specialized berries develop from flowers with inferior ovaries. These will, of course, have accessory layers contributed by the surrounding receptacle and other tissues. In these plants the specialized berry is called a pepo. Examples are:
watermelons,
cucumbers,
pumpkins, and
squashes.

A third type of fleshy fruit is known as the pome. This fruit consists of a cartilaginous core (the true fruit), surrounded by a fleshy accessory layer. Examples are
apples,
pears, and
quinces.

Dry fruits can be divided into two separate groups: dehiscent and indehiscent.

Dehiscent dry fruits are those that open on their own to shed seeds into the environment or onto an animal for dispersal.

Indehiscent dry fruits do not naturally open to shed seeds; rather they disperse their fruits into the environment or attach them to an animal for dispersal. Of course these contain the seeds.

The strawberry is not technically a berry, not even a fleshy fruit. The red part you eat is a fleshy accessory to a dry fruit. The true fruit is the tiny dry fruit on the surface of the strawberry. It passes through the digestive system of a bird which weakens the fruit wall. When the fruit is delivered to soil, along with some fertiliser, the seed inside can sprout.

Nuts are indehiscent fruits. "Fruit and nut" is a redundant expression because a nut is a fruit. Not everything that people call "nuts" are botanically nuts. The coconut is sold as a pit from a drupe. The peanut is the seed from a legume. The almond is the seed from the pit of a drupe.

So complex. And what about bananas?