fleshy fruits, in which the pericarp and accessory parts develop into succulent

tissues

# The ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant, together with accessory

parts, containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms.

Fruits are the containers in which the plant puts its seeds. They are not all fruits as
we think of them, but have many different forms. Some are fleshy with parts we like
to eat, some are dry, some are heavy and are designed to be dispersed by falling
and rolling away from the parent plant, some have wings or fluffy tails to enable
them to be caught by the wind to be dispersed.

Fruits are divided into Fleshy Fruits, and Dry Fruits.

Fleshy Fruits can be subdivided again into those formed from a single flower and
those formed from a group of flowers. They can have one seed or several seeds in.

Fleshy Fruits formed from a single flower are classified as: Berry, Drupe,
Aggregation of Drupes, Pome, Hesperidium. Some authorities also give these
separate status: Hep, Pseudocarp, Pepo.

Fleshy Fruits which grow from a group of flowers are: Sorosis, Synconium,
Coenocarpium.

In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, a

fruit.
Exocarp

Exocarp (Gr. "outside" + "fruit"), is a botanical term for the outermost layer of the pericarp (or
fruit). The exocarp forms the tough outer skin of the fruit, which bears oil glands and pigments.
The exocarp is sometimes called the epicarp, or, especially in citruses, the flavedo.

A schematic picture of an orange hesperidium

Flavedo is mostly composed of cellulosic material but also contains other components, such as
essential oils, paraffin waxes, steroids and triterpenoids, fatty acids, pigments (carotenoids,
chlorophylls, flavonoids), bitter principles (limonene), and enzymes.

In citrus fruits, the flavedo constitutes the peripheral surface of the pericarp. It is composed of
several cell layers that become progressively thicker in the internal part; the epidermic layer is
covered with wax and contains few stomata, which in many cases are closed when the fruit is
ripe.

When ripe, the flavedo cells contain carotenoids (mostly xanthophyll) inside chromoplasts,
which, in a previous developmental stage, contained chlorophyll. This hormonally controlled
progression in development is responsible for the fruit's change of color from green to yellow
upon ripening.

The internal region of the flavedo is rich in multicellular bodies with spherical or pyriform
shapes, which are full of essential oils.

[edit] Mesocarp

Mesocarp (Gr. "middle" + "fruit") or Sarcocarp ("flesh" + "fruit"), is the botanical term for the
succulent and fleshy middle layer of the pericarp of drupaceous fruit, between the exocarp and
the endocarp; it is usually the part of the fruit that is eaten.

This term may also refer to any fruit that is fleshy throughout. In a hesperidium such as a citrus
fruit, the mesocarp is also referred to as albedo or pith because of its soft fiber. It is part of the
peel which is commonly removed by hand.

[edit] Endocarp

Endocarp (Gr. "inside" + "fruit"), is a botanical term for the inside layer of the pericarp (or
fruit), which directly surrounds the seeds. It may be membranous as in citrus where it is the only
part consumed, or thick and hard as in the stone fruits of the family Rosaceae such as peaches,
cherries, plums, and apricots.

In nuts, it is the stony layer that surrounds the kernel of pecans, walnuts, etc., and that is removed
prior to consumption.
In citrus, the endocarp is separated into sections, which are most commonly called segments. The
juicy pulp filling the segments is usually referred to as juice vesicles.

An accessory fruit (sometimes called false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp) is a

fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some
adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel.

Examples of accessory tissue are the receptacle of strawberries, figs, or mulberries

A strawberry fruit: the 'seeds' are achenes, each one derived from a pistil of the flower.