COMPOSITE FRUITS

A ripened, mature ovary, as well as the contents of the ovary, is referred to as a fruit. The ovary is the reproductive component in the plant flower that contains the ovules. From the earliest stages of flower development until the ovules are fertilized and convert into seeds, the ovary functions to encapsulate and preserve the ovules. 

Fruits are divided into two categories: fleshy fruits and dry fruits. Berries, aggregation fruits, and numerous fruits are fleshy fruits; cereal grains, capsulate fruits, legumes and nuts are dry fruits.

SIMPLE FRUITS:

Simple fruits are those that emerge from a monocarpellary or polycarpellary syncarpous pistil in a flower. A single fruit, such as a pear or a mango, emerges from a blossom.

AGGREGATE FRUITS: 

Aggregate fruits are produced by flowers with a polycarpellary apocarpous pistil. Each ovary produces only one basic fruit. All of the fruits that emerge from the several ovaries of a single flower remain aggregated to create a single aggregate fruit. 

The prefix etaerio- is applied to simple fruit that develops from a single ovary. These are achenes etaerio (e.g., Ranunculus, Nelumbium).

COMPOSITE FRUITS:

The fruits that emerge from the entire inflorescence are known as composite fruits. Mulberry, anjeer, and other fruits develop from a large number of blossoms (inflorescence).

The entire inflorescence produces a composite or numerous fruit. The flowers, and the peduncles on which they have been borne, play a role in the fruit’s growth. Infructescence is another name for such a fruit.

Fruits developed by the fruiting bodies of same inflorescence are known as multiple fruits. These fruiting bodies grow and unite into a single fruiting mass, such as a pineapple. Sorosis is a phenomenon that occurs when many fruits emerge from the ovaries of several blooms. Mulberry, for example.

Syconus is a phenomenon that occurs when a numerous fruit develops from flowers that develop in a hollow fleshy stalk of inflorescence. 

A cluster of blooms (a ‘multiple’ of flowers) forms a multiple fruit, also known as an inflorescence. Each blossom generates a unique fruitlet, which merges into a single mass of fruit as it matures. Pineapple, mulberry, fig, Osage orange, and breadfruit are some examples. 

The first bloom is a head, which is an inflorescence (a cluster) of white flowers. Evey flower in the cluster matures into a drupe after fertilization; when the drupes grow, they form a connate organ, combining into a numerous meaty fruit known as a syncarp.

On just a single branch of Indian mulberry, or noni, various flowering and fruit development stages can be seen. A succession of second, third, and more inflorescences are initiated in turn during the development process.

COMPOSITE FRUIT DIAGRAM:

SOROSIS:

• A spadix or spike produces this type of numerous fruit. The perianth lobes of the flowers fuse together, and the axis supporting them turns fleshy and juicy, resulting in the entire inflorescence becoming a compacted mass, – for example, jackfruit, pineapple etc.
• The perianth lobes of Morus (mulberry) become thick and juicy, and they are delicious.
• Because the ovules often don’t ripen into seeds in this species, the carpels mature into little seedless nutlets.

PSEUDOCARP:

• A fruit that includes other elements of the flower, such as the receptacle, in addition to the ovary wall.
• The fleshy part of a strawberry, for example, is made up of the receptacle, while the ‘pips’ on the top are the genuine fruits.

SYCONUS:

• A composite fruit made up of a hollow meaty inflorescence stem with smaller blooms growing inside. Female flowers yield little drupes known as ‘pips.’
• A hollow, pear-shaped, fleshy receptacle encloses numerous minute male and female flowers in this form of composite fruit. The receptacle matures further and transforms into a tasty fleshy fruit. 
• It actually encompasses a variety of true fruits or achenes that grow from female flowers of the hypanthodium inflorescence, such as figs, banyans, and many Ficus species.

CONCLUSION:

These fruits grow from the entire inflorescence, where flowers are crowded together and frequently joined. The following are the most common types of composite fruits:

Syconus: The hypanthodium inflorescence, consisting of a flask-shaped hollowed & fleshy receptacle housing a large number of tiny flowers, gives rise to this fruit.

Sorosis: A fleshy, composite fruit that grows from a spike, spadix, or catkin inflorescence. The inflorescence’s central shaft becomes thick, fleshy, or woody, and flowers are carried densely on it. The succulent sepals of these blooms bind them together.