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In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a 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. Drupes do not split open to release the seed, i.e., they are indehiscent. [1] These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries [1] (polypyrenous drupes are exceptions).
The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, woody (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, [2] but which does not precisely fit the definition of a drupe.
The boundary between a drupe and a berry is not always clear. Thus, some sources describe the fruit of species from the genus Persea , which includes the avocado, as a drupe, [3] others describe avocado fruit as a berry. [4] One definition of berry requires the endocarp to be less than 2 mm (3⁄32 in) thick, other fruits with a stony endocarp being drupes. [5] In marginal cases, terms such as drupaceous or drupe-like may be used. [2] [5]
The term stone fruit (also stonefruit) can be a synonym for drupe or, more typically, it can mean just the fruit of the genus Prunus.
Freestone refers to a drupe having a stone which can be removed from the flesh with ease. The flesh is not attached to the stone and does not need to be cut to free the stone. Freestone varieties of fruits are preferred for uses that require careful removal of the stone, especially if removal will be done by hand. Freestone plums are preferred for making homegrown prunes, and freestone sour cherries are preferred for making pies and cherry soup.
Clingstone refers to a drupe having a stone which cannot be easily removed from the flesh. The flesh is attached strongly to the stone and must be cut to free the stone. Clingstone varieties of fruits in the genus Prunus are preferred as table fruit and for jams, because the flesh of clingstone fruits tends to be more tender and juicy throughout.
Tryma is a specialized term for such nut-like drupes that are difficult to categorize. Hickory nuts (Carya) and walnuts ( Juglans ) in the Juglandaceae family grow within an outer husk; these fruits are technically drupes or drupaceous nuts, thus are not true botanical nuts. [4] [6]
Many drupes, with their sweet, fleshy outer layer, attract the attention of animals as a food, and the plant population benefits from the resulting dispersal of its seeds. The endocarp (pit or stone) is sometimes dropped after the fleshy part is eaten, but is often swallowed, passing through the digestive tract, and returned to the soil in feces with the seed inside unharmed. This passage through the digestive tract can reduce the thickness of the endocarp, thus can aid in germination rates. The process is known as scarification.[ citation needed ]
Typical drupes include apricots, olives, loquat, peaches, plums, cherries, mangoes, pecans, and amlas (Indian gooseberries). Other examples include sloe ( Prunus spinosa ) and ivy ( Hedera helix ). [7]
The coconut is also a drupe, but the mesocarp is fibrous or dry (termed a husk [1] ), so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry, fibrous drupe. Unlike other drupes, the coconut seed is so large that it is unlikely to be dispersed by being swallowed by fauna, but it can float extremely long distances—across oceans.
Bramble fruits such as the blackberry and the raspberry are aggregates of drupelets. The fruit of blackberries and raspberries comes from a single flower whose pistil is made up of a number of free carpels. However, mulberries, which closely resemble blackberries, are not aggregate fruit, but are multiple fruits, actually derived from bunches of catkins, each drupelet thus belonging to a different flower.
Certain drupes occur in large clusters, as in the case of palm species, where a large array of drupes is found in a cluster. Examples of such large drupe clusters include dates, Jubaea chilensis [8] in central Chile and Washingtonia filifera in the Sonoran Desert of North America.
Drupe-like "fruits" are also known in many gymnosperms like cycads, ginkgos and some cypresses. [9]
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Rosaceae, the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
The peach is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others, nectarines.
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.
Rubus is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. It is a diverse genus, with the estimated number of Rubus species varying from 250 to over 1000, found across all continents except Antarctica.
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus. Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Rosaceae that includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa, There are about 340 accepted species as of March 2024. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their fruit and for decorative purposes. Prunus fruit are drupes, or stone fruits. The fleshy mesocarp surrounding the endocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called the pyrena. This shell encloses the seed, which is edible in some species, but poisonous in many others. Besides being eaten off the hand, most Prunus fruit are also commonly used in processing, such as jam production, canning, drying, and the seeds for roasting.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, many dry seeds are called nuts. In a botanical context, "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent).
In botany, a pome is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. Pome fruits consist of a central "core" containing multiple small seeds, which is enveloped by a tough membrane and surrounded by an edible layer of flesh. Pome fruit trees are deciduous, and undergo a dormant winter period that requires cold temperatures to break dormancy in spring. Well-known pomes include the apple, pear, and quince.
The damson or damson plum, also archaically called the "damascene", is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name damson is derived from and most commonly applied to forms that are native to Great Britain. Damsons are relatively small ovoid plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves and jams.
A pyrena or pyrene is the fruitstone within a drupe or drupelet produced by the ossification of the endocarp or lining of the fruit. It consists of a hard endocarp tissue surrounding one or more seeds. The hardened endocarp which constitutes the pyrene provides a protective physical barrier around the seed, shielding it from pathogens and herbivory.
An aggregate fruit or etaerio is a fruit that develops from the merger of several ovaries that were separated in a single flower. In contrast, a simple fruit develops from one ovary, and a multiple fruit develops from multiple flowers. In languages other than English, the meanings of "aggregate" and "multiple" fruit are reversed, so that "aggregate" fruits merge several flowers. The differences in meaning are due to a reversal in the terminology by John Lindley, which has been followed by most English-language authors.
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals. The pistil may be made up of one carpel or of several fused carpels, and therefore the ovary can contain part of one carpel or parts of several fused carpels. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary, and, for each individual pollen grain, to fertilize one individual ovule. Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries.
In botany, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone (pit) produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines), persimmons and bananas, but exclude certain fruits that meet the culinary definition of berries, such as strawberries and raspberries. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible "pericarp". Berries may be formed from one or more carpels from the same flower. The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy exceptions, such as Capsicum species, with air rather than pulp around their seeds.
Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits.
Simple fruits are the result of the ripening-to-fruit of a simple or compound ovary in a single flower with a single pistil. In contrast, a single flower with numerous pistils typically produces an aggregate fruit; and the merging of several flowers, or a 'multiple' of flowers, results in a 'multiple' fruit. A simple fruit is further classified as either dry or fleshy.
Prunus rivularis, known variously by the common names creek plum, hog plum, or wild-goose plum is a thicket-forming shrub. It prefers calcareous clay soil or limestone-based woodland soils. This deciduous plant belongs to the rose family, Rosaceae, and is found mainly in the central United States. It is a shrub consisting of slender stems with umbel clusters of white blossoms. The fruit is a drupe that resembles a large berry; though it has a bitter taste, it serves as a source of food for birds and other wildlife. "Prunus" is Latin for plum, whereas "rivularis" means being near a stream.
Leucostoma canker is a fungal disease that can kill stone fruit. The disease is caused by the plant pathogens Leucostoma persoonii and Leucostoma cinctum (teleomorph) and Cytospora leucostoma and Cytospora cincta (anamorphs). The disease can have a variety of signs and symptoms depending on the part of the tree infected. One of the most lethal symptoms of the disease are the Leucostoma cankers. The severity of the Leucostoma cankers is dependent on the part of the plant infected. The fungus infects through injured, dying or dead tissues of the trees. Disease management can consist of cultural management practices such as pruning, late season fertilizers or chemical management through measures such as insect control. Leucostoma canker of stone fruit can cause significant economic losses due to reduced fruit production or disease management practices. It is one of the most important diseases of stone fruit trees all over the world.
Elwyn Marshall Meader was an American botanist and plant scientist. Over the course of his career, Meader developed over 50 new strains of plum, peach, squash, rutabaga, sweet corn, melon, watermelon, salad bean, pod bean, pepper, pumpkin, nectarine, bush cherry, kiwi fruit, persimmon, cranberry, raspberry, and blueberry. He developed the Miss Kim Lilac from seeds of a wild lilac bush he found in the mountains of Korea and decided to name it after "all the Miss Kims in Korea".