aggregate fruit
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: A type of fruit that develops from a single flower with multiple separate ovaries. These individual ovaries each mature into a small fruit, called a drupelet or fruitlets, which are clustered together on a common receptacle. Examples include blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
Usage
The term "aggregate fruit" is used in botanical contexts to classify and describe the structure of certain fruits. It specifies that the fruit is a collection of many smaller fruits from one flower. - Botanically, a strawberry is not a berry but an aggregate fruit. - The raspberry's structure is a classic example of an aggregate fruit.
Advanced Usage
- "aggregate fruit" vs. "multiple fruit": An aggregate fruit comes from one flower with many ovaries (e.g., blackberry). A multiple fruit develops from the merged ovaries of many flowers in an inflorescence (e.g., pineapple, fig).
- While both are compound fruits, scientists distinguish between aggregate fruits and multiple fruits based on floral origin.
Variants and Related Words
- Etaerio: A technical synonym for an aggregate fruit.
- Drupelet: A small drupe; a single unit of an aggregate fruit like a blackberry.
- Accessory fruit: A fruit where part of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from adjacent tissue. The strawberry is both an aggregate fruit and an accessory fruit.
- Aggregate (adjective): Formed by the collection of many separate units.
Synonyms
- Etaerio
Related Terms (Not Synonyms)
- Multiple fruit: A fruit formed from the ovaries of many flowers merging together (e.g., pineapple).
- Simple fruit: A fruit that develops from a single ovary of a single flower (e.g., cherry, tomato).
- Receptacle: The part of the flower stalk that bears the floral organs and, in aggregate fruits, bears the small fruitlets.
Noun
- fruit consisting of many individual small fruits or drupes derived from separate ovaries within a common receptacle: e.g. blackberry; raspberry; pineapple