Fruit

The fruit (from Latin fructus ) of a plant is flowering in a state of seed maturation. The fruit is of all bodies that emerge from a flower, and enclosing the seeds until they are mature. Fruit is in principle only the plants which have a closed ovary ( angiosperms = Angiosperms); in gymnosperms ( gymnosperms, such as conifers or ginkgo tree ) arise only free seeds.

At the formation of a fruit the following organs may be involved except the carpel as: axis tissue (eg, the base of the flower ), perianth, husks. The fruit is used for propagation. Depending on whether the seeds are enclosed by the fruit or released in the mature state, a distinction between closing and opening and scattered fruit.

In common parlance, is understood and not always a clear distinction between the seed and the fruit among fruits and fruit.

Construction

A fruit consists of one or more seeds, which are surrounded by a pericarp, the pericarp. In the pericarp, in turn, there are three layers:

• Exocarp - outer layer
• Mesocarp - the middle layer
• Endocarp - inner layer

When peach on the image to the right for example, the endocarp forms the hard core containing the seeds. The mesocarp is fleshy, and the exocarp forms the velvety peach skin.

The pericarp is formed during the ripening of the fruit from the ovary of the flower. For the classification of fruits, it is important to recall that the ovary of one or more fused carpels ( carpels ) is.

The remainder of the stem axis and calyx ( sepals ) is commonly referred to as zilch.

Classification

Fruits can be classified according to various criteria:

• After closure of the ripe seeds: Opens the pericarp after fruit ripening and dismiss them seeds, so it is called an open or scattered fruit.
• If the pericarp, however, closed and coincides with the seeds from the plant as a whole, it is called a closed fruit.
• If the seeds at maturity while still surrounded by the pericarp, but these decays. Several units in which one or can contain multiple seeds, so it is called a fruit decay

• On the water content: Dried fruit: the seeds are in a dry and hard pericarp. You do not have opening fruits (eg pea), indehiscent fruits (eg nuts) and carpels ( eg maple ) occur
• Fruit juice: When the pericarp berries in all its parts is fleshy and juicy, contains sugar and is often dyed, with stone fruit mesocarp and exocarp only the

• After grouping on the plant: The fruits can be individually (single crop ).
• Forming the individual fruits of an entire inflorescence a whole, it is called a fruit stand. (eg Linde, ears of grain, grapes)
• In flowers with several ovary, it may also be that from each ovary a fruit is formed, these fruits but then form a whole, which usually falls together by the plant and is spread. Such formations are called multiple fruits. (eg strawberries, raspberries, rose hips of roses )
• Growing together, so that they can be distributed the fruits of a fruit stand together just fall together and so we speak of a fruit dressing. Morphologically, it may be involved in the individual fruits to berries, nuts or other. (eg pineapple, figs)

This fruit forms are explained below again.

Individual fruits

Fruit of a flower, from one or more ( intergrown with itself) carpel.

Opening and scattered fruits

The seeds are released at the time of fruit ripening. The propagation is performed here by the seeds.

In this consists the ovary of one carpel, which fuses at the ventral suture and also only at this opens a seam in fruit ripening.

Here is the ovary of one carpel, which is fused to the ventral suture. In contrast to the follicle but the ripe fruit does not only open at this interface ( the so-called "belly seam" ), but also along the midrib of the carpel, which is also called " back seam " in this case. This fruit shape occurs in the legume family, for example.

In capsules is the ovary of two or more fused carpels, which open at fruit maturity in different ways. Depending on the type of opening, the following thin capsule forms. However, there are also capsules that burst open irregularly, and can not be assigned to one of these forms.

• Gap Capsules: The ovary open to the vagina walls of adhesions or along the midrib of the carpel. In any case it vertical columns on the fruit wall. The capsules can be opened completely, or even jump only at the top with some teeth, or only be opened along the side with columns.
• Cover Capsules: At the top of a capsule cover replaces.
• Pores capsule: On the capsule wall holes are created by the fall out the seeds.

In this consists the ovary of two or four with so-called Plazentarleisten fused carpels. At fruit maturity, two of the carpels separate from the Plazentarleisten and open so the fruit. This fruit shape occurs in cruciferous vegetables or with some poppy plants, for example. Are the pods less than three times as long as wide, usually one speaks also of " silicles ".

Indehiscent fruits

Seeds remain enclosed by the pericarp to dissemination. The expansion unit is the fruit.

In berries, the pericarp ( exocarp fleshy mesocarp and endo-, membranous - for example, currant, tomato, cucumber or pumpkin) is also in fruit ripening yet fleshy or juicy. Many dry maximum nearing maturity yet. Regularly drying berries whose pericarp is tough and leathery, are called leather berries (eg peppers ). Berries usually contain several seeds.

Nuts are usually one-seeded fruit in which the entire pericarp (endo-, exo-and mesocarp ) has become woody or leathery (eg Common hazel ). In many plants with nut fruits the pericarp is inseparably fused with the seed. In the event that the ovary was constantly above, then one speaks also of a caryopsis (eg grasses ), in the event that he was inferior, from a achene (eg Asteraceae ).

Stone fruits combine characteristics of berries and nuts. For them, the endocarp, ie the innermost layer of the pericarp is woody or leathery. Mezocarp contrast, fleshy, juicy and soft; the exocarp membranous (eg, cherry, plum, elderberry or almond ). Stone fruits are usually one seed.

Fruit decay

In these, the fruit disintegrates at maturity along partitions into parts, each corresponding to a carpel. The propagation unit are part of fruit.

Again, the fruit disintegrates along partitions into parts. But these do not correspond to each one carpel, but parts of one or more carpels. The parts are always one seed. We distinguish:

• Members sleeves: but not jump fruits that are formed from a single carpel along the seam, but right in each one-seeded parts disintegrate (eg Alpine sulla ).
• Members pods: Fruits of two or four carpels which break across at maturity.
• Klaus fruits: These fruits disintegrate along the real partitions and additionally along false septa. Thus, each carpel forming at maturity several distribution units, so the number is a multiple of the number of carpels. In the Central European plants is always an educated decays of two carpels ovary into four parts (such as mint ).

Collecting fruits

They arise from a flower with several or many carpels, each forming a separate single fruit and together constitute a unit. Collecting fruit is the nature of their individual fruits pomes ( kola nut, Peony) - called with the special form of apple fruit ( apple or pear), collecting stone fruits ( raspberry, blackberry, cloudberry ) or collective nut fruits (strawberry, rose hips ). Of the individual fruit is called in collecting fruits usually in the diminutive. The fruit of raspberry, for example, a collection stone fruit that is formed of several fused drupelets.

Fruit associations

Fruit associations arise from several or many individual flowers of an entire inflorescence. From each of these flowers a single fruit is born. However, these are connected or overgrown by tissue of the inflorescence axis or deformed in the course of fruit ripening with each other, so that a false fruit is formed as a unit. Typical examples of fruit associations are

• Berry fruit Association of pineapple - from every single flower is morphologically a berry arisen
• Drupe Association of fig - the pitcher -shaped inflorescence comprises a large number of tiny flowers from which stone fruits arise
• Nut fruit Association of mulberry

In particular, in the family of the mulberry family ( Moraceae ) are common fruit associations far.