Terminology:
– Boundary between drupe and berry not always clear
– Some sources classify avocado as drupe, others as berry
– Berry defined by endocarp thickness
– Terms like drupaceous and drupe-like used in marginal cases
– Stone fruit synonymous with drupe, especially in Prunus genus
Ecology:
– Drupes attract animals for seed dispersal
– Endocarp often swallowed and passed through digestive tract
– Process known as scarification can aid in germination rates
Examples:
– Typical drupes include apricots, olives, peaches, plums, cherries
– Other examples: mangoes, pecans, amlas, sloe, ivy
– Coconut classified as fibrous drupe
– Bramble fruits like blackberries are aggregates of drupelets
– Large drupe clusters seen in palm species
Gallery:
– Peach, plum, nectarine, black pepper examples of drupes
– Areca nut, ginkgo fruits also drupe-like
– Gymnosperms like cycads and ginkgos have drupe-like fruits
See also:
– Pome referred to as polypyrenous drupe
References:
– Various botanical sources cited for terminology and classification
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2011) |
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the pip (UK), pit (US), stone, or pyrena) of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries (polypyrenous drupes are exceptions).
The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. In an aggregate fruit, which is composed of small, individual drupes (such as a raspberry), each individual is termed a drupelet, and may together form an aggregate fruit. Such fruits are often termed berries, although botanists use a different definition of berry. Other fleshy fruits may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes.
Flowering plants that produce drupes include coffee, jujube, mango, olive, most palms (including açaí, date, sabal and oil palms), pistachio, white sapote, cashew, and all members of the genus Prunus, including the almond, apricot, cherry, damson, peach, nectarine, and plum.
The term drupaceous is applied to a fruit having the structure and texture of a drupe, but which does not precisely fit the definition of a drupe.