multiple fruit
Noun: A type of fruit that develops from the ovaries of many separate flowers in a single inflorescence (a cluster of flowers). These individual small fruits fuse together as they mature, forming a single, larger structure that appears to be one fruit. The scientific term for this is a "syncarp."
The term "multiple fruit" is used in botany and horticulture to classify and describe the structure of certain fruits. It is a technical term.
Examples: * Botanically, a pineapple is classified as a multiple fruit. * The blackberry is not a simple berry but a multiple fruit, as each tiny segment comes from a separate flower. * When studying plant morphology, it is important to distinguish between simple, aggregate, and multiple fruits.
- In Botanical Classification: The concept of a multiple fruit (syncarp) is contrasted with a "simple fruit" (which develops from a single ovary of one flower, like a peach) and an "aggregate fruit" (which develops from multiple ovaries of a flower, like a raspberry).
- Common Misconception: Many fruits commonly called "berries" in everyday language (like blackberries or mulberries) are not true botanical berries but are, in fact, multiple fruits.
- Syncarp (n): The precise botanical term for a multiple fruit.
- Infructescence (n): The entire fruiting structure, which for a multiple fruit is the fused product of an entire inflorescence.
- Aggregate fruit (n): A related but distinct type of fruit that forms from multiple ovaries of a single flower (e.g., raspberry, magnolia fruit).
- Collective fruit
- Composite fruit
- Receptacle: The part of the flower stalk that bears the floral organs. In multiple fruits like the fig or pineapple, the receptacle becomes fleshy and part of the edible structure.
- Drupelet: A small drupe. A blackberry is a multiple fruit composed of many tiny drupelets.
- Sorosis: A specific type of multiple fruit from a spike or catkin inflorescence, such as a mulberry or pineapple.
- fruit consisting of many individual small fruits or drupes derived from separate ovaries within a common receptacle: e.g. blackberry; raspberry; pineapple