Fruit Notes

What are they?  Fruits are structures of angiosperms that develop from the ovary and encloses the seed

What are they?  Fleshy fruits often contain sugars to attract animals for seed dispersal  Non-fleshy fruits can use parthenocarpy to develop without fertilization.

Layering  The ovary develops into the 3-layered fruit  Exocarp – outer layer containing the epidermis  Mesocarp – middle layer that varies in thickness  Endocarp – shows variation from species to species

Fruit Types  There are 4 ways of classifying fruits:  Fruits develop from a single, mature ovary.  The first group is simple fruits which can be broken into fleshy and dry fruits  The difference between fleshy and dry is the state of their pericarp at maturity.

Fleshy Fruit Dry Fruit

Fruit Types (con’t)  Dry fruits can be broken into dehiscent and indehiscent fruits.

Dehiscent – split at maturity

Indehiscent – don’t spilt at maturity

Dehiscent Indehiscent

Aggregate fruit :  contain many ovaries from a single flower. The ovaries mature together. Aggregate Fruit

Multiple Fruit Multiple fruit: Develop from a cluster of flowers

4 Types  Simple, fleshy  Simple, dry  Aggregate  Multiple