Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Aggregate fruit

An aggregate fruit, or etaerio, develops from a flower with numerous simple pistils. An example is the raspberry, whose simple fruits are termed drupelets because each is like a small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits (such as blackberry) the receptacle is elongated and part of the ripe fruit, making the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit. The strawberry is also an aggregate-accessory fruit, only one in which the seeds are contained in achenes.In all these examples, the fruit develops from a single flower with numerous pistils. Some kinds of aggregate fruits are called berries, yet in the botanical sense they are not.

No comments: