– Authors:
– Hickey, M.
– King, C.
– Publication year:
– 2001
– Book title:
– The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms
– Publisher:
– Cambridge University Press
– Source:
– Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Compound_fruit&oldid=1214997925
– Categories:
– Fruit morphology
– Plant stubs
– Articles with short description
– Short description is different from Wikidata
– All stub articles
The term compound fruit is not used in technical botanical writing, but is sometimes used when it is not clear which of several fruit types is involved. A compound fruit is "composed of two or more similar parts".
A compound fruit may be:
- An aggregate fruit, in which one flower contains several separate ovaries, which merge during development.
- A multiple fruit, in which several flowers, each with an ovary, develop into small fruits that are clustered or fused together into a larger fruit.
- A simple fruit formed from a compound ovary.
-
A raspberry is an aggregate fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle larva) -
A pineapple is a multiple fruit -
A tomato is a simple fruit derived from a compound ovary
Grapes grow in clusters, but are not compound fruits. Each grape is grown from one ovary in one flower, and each grape remains an independent fruit.