What should you know about fruit
There fruit it is a set of foods exclusively of vegetable origin; it is a NON-scientific classification that groups some typically sugary / sweet foods and excludes others which, despite having the same biological characteristics (such as tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, etc.), do not boast the same taste properties.
Furthermore, always in BOTANY, by seed we mean the organ of propagation of a category of plants called spermatophytes which in itself constitutes the transformation of an egg after fertilization. In the food sector, the most common edible seeds are legumes and cereals.
Curiosity: there are some plant forms capable of producing a seedless fruit: the parthenocarpic. This rather rare "fruiting" phenomenon occurs regardless of the fertilization of the plant which, logically (most of the botanical species), should prematurely abort the sterile flower. Some examples of parthenocarpy are manifest from the banana tree or fig tree.
It is clear that the entire chapter of a botanical book would not be enough to accurately describe the structure and formation process of a fruit, but this is not what we intend to do with this article; rather, we will try to provide all the useful and practical information for an in-depth study of this apparently simple but on the contrary so surprisingly heterogeneous set of foods.
Fruit structure
It is not easy to summarize in a few lines the structure of all types of fruit, therefore, only the terminologies essential to the general understanding of the subject will be exposed.
The fruit is the result of the fertilization of the pistil (s). The pistil evolves into fruit following a complex series of growth processes that favor its development; when in the flower, in addition to the pistil, other structures also participate (such as the receptacle, which is originally represented by the "enlargement of the peduncle), the false fruit (see below).
Quite simply:
In the real fruit, the seed (innermost structure) is wrapped in a fleshy PERICARP which is further differentiated into EPICARP (more commonly called "peel"), MESOCARP (central part) and ENDOCARP (the innermost structure that makes contact with the seed).
In the false fruit, the whole structure is further enveloped by a fleshy receptacle.
Fruit / fruit classification
The first distinction separates real fruits And false fruit. By true fruits we mean all those that satisfy the essential structural characteristics of a fruit, while false fruits are characterized by a fleshy receptacle outside that wraps the real fruit placed inside; to be clear, the apple and pear (pomi) are false fruits that wrap the real fruit, or the core.
Using botanical differentiation classical (but deliberately omitting many cataloging details) I think it is useful to divide the fruits into:
- Simple or derived from a single flower
- Aggregatio compounds having multiple pistils on the same receptacle
- Fruits with multiple pistils and different fruits.
The simple fruits are all real fruits and are further divided into:
- Dried fruits: poor parenchyma and reduced water content with sometimes hard and woody pericarp; they can be differentiated into dehiscent (legumes, poppy, tobacco, etc.) and indehiscent (chestnut, hazel, etc.).
- Fleshy fruits: with parenchyma particularly rich in water; among the fleshy fruits we recognize: berries (grapes, banana, tomato, etc.), hesperidium (citrus fruits, etc.), drupe (olive, coffee, walnut, almond, coconut, pepper, etc. .), peponides (courgette, squash and cucumber), balustrades (pomegranate), carboxyides (cocoa), dehiscent berry (nutmeg).
- As for the Aggregate or compound fruits, we mention the polidrupa (blackberry, raspberry, etc.) and the conocarpo (strawberry), while the Infructiscences include the sorose (pineapple) and the syconium (fig).
These are difficult and difficult to understand topics, especially for those who do not have the essential basis for reading biology and in particular botany; however, giving a brief summary of the essential classification of fruits is a fundamental or at least desirable aspect to the composition of a specific article that is essentially exhaustive. Let it be clear that if we want to go further into the merits, just to discuss the morphological structure of the fruit, it would be essential to retrace all the categories mentioned above one by one; but being able to choose, I prefer to illustrate with greater care only some of the fruits listed, that is, those most consumed in food. I speak respectively of the drupes, the hesperides, the berries and the apples.
Drupe: the drupe is a fleshy fruit wrapped in an epicarp; it has a mesocarp rich in water which in turn surrounds a woody endocarp containing only one seed. NB the seed is protected so as to pass unharmed the gastro intestinal tract of animals. , almond, olive, pistachio, mango coffee, walnut and coconut.
Berries: they have a thin epicarp and a fleshy mesocarp under which there is an equally fleshy endocarp in which several seeds are arranged. Typical examples of berries are tomatoes, aubergines, grapes, peppers, watermelons, etc.
Hesperidium: hesperidium is nothing more than a variant of the berry; it has a thin epicarp rich in essential oils, a white, spongy and dry mesocarp, and an endocarp divided into wedges filled with juice and seeds. Lemons and cedars are hesperides. , oranges, bergamot etc.
Apples: Apples are false fleshy fruits; they too are characterized by an external peel that delimits a fleshy portion (receptacle) which, however, does NOT surround only the seed but all the real fruit (core). Apple, pear, medlar, etc. are apples.
Other articles on "Fruit - Hints of Botany, Classification and Types of Fruit"
- Fruit - Fresh and dried fruit - Nutritional properties
- Fruit - Seasonality and Fruit Preservation
