Aggregate fruit

A raspberry fruit is an aggregate fruit, an aggregate of drupelets

The fruit of an Aquilegia flower is one fruit that forms from several ovaries of one flower, and it is an aggregate of follicles. However, because the follicles are not fused to one another, it is not considered an aggregate fruit

An aggregate fruit or etaerio is a fruit that develops from the merger of several ovaries that were separate in a single flower. In contrast, a simple fruit develops from one ovary.

Not all flowers with multiple ovaries form aggregate fruit; the ovaries of some flowers do not become tightly joined together to make a larger fruit. Aggregate fruits may also be accessory fruits, in which parts of the flower other than the ovary become fleshy and form part of the fruit.

Examples

Aggregate fruits include:

• Raspberry
• Dewberry and blackberry, also accessory fruit, with a fleshy receptacle
• Strawberry, also an accessory fruit, with a fleshy receptacle

See also

• Multiple fruit, a structure formed from the ovaries of several flowers, that can resemble an aggregate fruit
• Compound fruit, a term sometimes used when it is not clear whether a fruit is an aggregate fruit, a multiple fruit, or a simple fruit formed from a compound ovary
• Carpel, the "building blocks" of the ovary