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Accessory fruit

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A selection of accessory fruits (from left to right: pear, fig, and strawberry)

An accessory fruit is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the floral ovary but from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel.[1]

Terminology

Alternative terms for accessory fruit are false fruit, spurious fruit, pseudofruit, or pseudocarp. These are older terms for accessory fruit that have been criticized as "inapt",[1] and are not used by some botanists today.[citation needed]

Examples

The following are examples of accessory fruits listed by the plant organ from which the accessory tissue is derived:[2]

Fruit with fleshy seeds, such as pomegranate or mamoncillo, are not considered to be accessory fruits.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Esau, K. 1977. Anatomy of seed plants. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
  2. ^ Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary entries for syconium, accessory fruit, core, and strawberry, Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2006