– Formation of Multiple Fruits:
– Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit that matures into a single mass.
– The mass is known as an infructescence after flowering.
– Examples include fig, pineapple, mulberry, osage orange, and jackfruit.
– Aggregate fruits like raspberry develop from multiple ovaries of a single flower.
– In some cases, infructescences resemble simple fruits, like the pineapple formed from the fusion of berries with receptacle tissues.
– Characteristics of Multiple Fruits:
– In some plants, continuous flower production allows observation of flowering, fruit development, and ripening on a single stem.
– Noni or Indian mulberry displays stages of flowering and fruit development on a single branch.
– Pineapple is an example of a syncarp multiple fleshy fruit.
– Some multiple fruits are dry.
– Other examples include plane tree, mulberry, breadfruit, and fig (syconium form).
– Examples of Multiple Fruits:
– Plane tree: multiple achenes from multiple flowers in a single fruit structure.
– Mulberry: multiple flowers forming one fruit.
– Breadfruit: multiple flowers forming one fruit.
– Fig: multiple flowers similar to mulberry infructescence forming a multiple fruit inside the inverted inflorescence.
– Various dry multiple fruits.
– Gallery of Multiple Fruits:
– Ananas (pineapple).
– Morus nigra (black mulberry).
– Related Concepts:
– Compound fruit.
Multi-fruits, also called collective fruits, are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of flowers, the inflorescence. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. After flowering, the mass is called an infructescence. Examples are the fig, pineapple, mulberry, osage orange, and jackfruit.
In contrast, an aggregate fruit such as a raspberry develops from multiple ovaries of a single flower. In languages other than English, the meanings of "multiple" and "aggregate" fruit are reversed, so that multiple fruits merge several pistils within a single flower.
In some cases, the infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fruits. One example is pineapple (Ananas), which is formed from the fusion of the berries with receptacle tissues and bracts.
As shown in the photograph of the noni, stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they become connate (merge) into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarp. There are also many dry multiple fruits.[citation needed]
Other examples of multiple fruits:
- Plane tree, multiple achenes from multiple flowers, in a single fruit structure
- Mulberry, multiple flowers form one fruit
- Breadfruit, multiple flowers form one fruit
- Fig, multiple flowers similar to mulberry infructescence form a multiple fruit inside the inverted inflorescence. This form is called a syconium.