Fruit

Angiosperms produce a fruit after fertilisation, developing from the ovary. Sometimes a fruit forms from the ovary without fertilisation occurring at all — such fruits are called parthenocarpic, and the phenomenon is parthenocarpy, e.g. cultivated seedless varieties of Banana and Grapes. A fruit that develops only from the ovary is a true fruit, e.g. Mango; a fruit that develops from floral parts other than the ovary is called a false fruit or pseudocarp, e.g. Apple, where the swollen thalamus contributes to the edible part.

A typical true fruit has a protective wall, the pericarp, along with the seed(s). In fleshy fruits the pericarp is further divided into an outer epicarp, a middle mesocarp and an inner endocarp, e.g. Mango.

Fruits that develop from a single ovary of a single flower are called simple fruits. These are further classified by their pericarp: those with a thin pericarp are dry fruits, and those with a thick pericarp are fleshy fruits. In dry fruits the pericarp becomes dry and thin, and it may break open at maturity (dehiscent) or stay closed (indehiscent) — Achene (Mirabilis), Caryopsis (Maize) and Cypsela (Sunflower) are indehiscent dry fruits, while Capsule (Ladies finger) and Legume (Pea) are dehiscent dry fruits. Among fleshy fruits, a Berry (Tomato) has a very soft pericarp throughout, while a Drupe (Coconut) has a stony endocarp.

When many ovaries of a single flower's apocarpous gynoecium each develop into a fruitlet that together form one composite structure, the result is an aggregate fruit — a collection (etaerio) of many fruitlets, such as an etaerio of achenes (Strawberry), an etaerio of berries (Custard apple), or an etaerio of follicles (Calotropis). …