Classification of Fruits

Topic Content:

Fruits are classified into various groups based on their origin and structure. The following are common ways of classifying fruits:

1. True and false fruits

2. Simple, aggregate and multiple fruits

3. Fleshy and Dry fruits

4. Dehiscent and Indehiscent fruits

True and False Fruits:

True fruits are formed solely from the fertilized ovary. Examples are mango, tomato, orange, etc, while false fruits are fruits formed from the ovary and other floral parts. Examples of false fruits are apples, pineapples, and cashews.

Simple, Aggregate and Multiple Fruits:

A simple fruit is a fruit formed from a single ovary or the fused ovary (syncarpous) of a single flower e.g. cowpea, tomato, maize etc.

An aggregate fruit is formed from several ovaries of a single flower. Each ovary develops into a fruitlet. Examples of aggregate fruits are kola, strawberry, and raspberry.

Multiple fruits develop from an inflorescence or several flowers close to one another. Here all the fruitlets are fused with the other floral parts to form a single fruit e.g. pineapple.

Fleshy Fruit:

A fleshy fruit is a fruit whose pericarp