Fruits - Formation, Parts and Types of Fruits: Definition, Classification, Examples, & Facts

What Is A Fruit?

Fruits are the mature ovary of a flowering plant, usually containing seeds, serving as a vital means of seed protection and dispersion until they are ready to germinate in the life cycle of plants. They have a great variety of shapes and sizes. They differ in the way of dispersal, like being fleshy fruits, for example, apples and berries, or dry, for example, nuts and grains.

Fruits are one of the essential components in human diets that provide an extensive range of nutrient resources available in the form of vitamins, minerals, and other dietary fibres that maintain sound and healthy appeal through good health and well-being. Fruits also are enriched with agricultural profitability, they contribute to economic activity by offering a living to people through trade and industries spread across the world in fresh consumption, processing, and related by-products.

Formation Of Fruits

Fruit formation is explained below-

Pollination And Fertilisation

Definition and process of pollination.

It is the transfer of pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma thereby leading to fertilization.

Types of pollination:

self-pollination and cross-pollination: Self-pollination takes place either in the exact flower or among flowers on the exact plant. On the other hand, cross-pollination occurs among various plants.

Fertilisation process in plants

After the process of pollination, one of the pollen grains germinates onto the stigma and grows down a pollen tube to the ovary, where the sperm cells can fertilise the ovules.

Development Of The Ovary Into Fruit

Fruit development is explained below-

Post-fertilisation changes in the ovary

After fertilisation, the ovary undergoes much change whereby it becomes a fruit which acts to protect the seeds under development.

Role of hormones in fruit development.

The hormones auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins control fruit development by promoting cell division and cell expansion.

Stages of fruit development:

The development of fruit involves the primary growth of individual cells subject to an initial increase in their number by cell division and is followed by cell extension that finally leads to mature and ripe fruits ready for seed dispersal.

Parts Of A Fruit

The fruit parts are explained below-

Pericarp

The pericarp refers to that portion of fruit developed after fertilisation from the wall of the ovary, usually surrounding seeds.

Layers of the pericarp

The pericarp consists of three layers: the exocarp, a skin covering the outer surface of the ovary; the mesocarp, a fleshy layer beneath the exocarp; and the endocarp, the innermost layer around the seed.

Seed

Formation and structure

A seed may be defined as the fertilised ovule primarily comprising the embryo, endosperm, and seed coat.

Importance of seeds in the reproduction of plants

The seed has a huge significance to a plant's life and its dispersal and further proliferation in species. It is how plants produce their next generation.

Accessory Parts

The accessory parts are explained below-

Definition and examples.

Additional structures of the fruit that form a part of the fruit but are not the derivative of the ovary. Examples include apple hypanthium and strawberry receptacle.

Role of accessory parts in some fruits.

Besides protecting seeds from injury, sometimes fruits provide for the ease of dispersal

Example: Apple (hypanthium), Strawberry (receptacle).

Types Of Fruits

The fruit types are explained below-

Simple Fruits

For simple fruits derived from one ovary, the pericarp might be fleshy or dry.

Examples:

Berries (tomato, grape), Drupes (cherry, peach), Pomes (apple, pear).

Aggregate Fruits

Fleshy fruit from several ovaries of a single flower, with each ovary, swelled to give a small fruitlet.

Examples:

Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry.

Multiple Fruits

Multiple fruits are formed from the ovaries of multiple flowers that grow in a cluster

Examples:

Pineapple, fig, mulberry.

Classification Based On Dehiscence

Dehiscent fruits:

These are fruits which open at maturity, releasing the seeds, which they bear. Examples are peas and beans.

Indehiscent fruits:

Such fruits do not open at maturity. Examples would be nuts and the seeds of sunflowers.

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