Multiple fruit

Multi-fruits, also called collective fruits, are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of flowers, the inflorescence. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass.^[1] After flowering, the mass is called an infructescence.^[2][3] Examples are the fig, pineapple, mulberry, osage-orange, and jackfruit.

Pineapple is a kind of multiple fruit

In contrast, an aggregate fruit such as a raspberry develops from multiple ovaries of a single flower. In languages other than English, the meanings of "multiple" and "aggregate" fruit are reversed, so that multiple fruits merge several pistils within a single flower.^[4]

In some cases, the infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fruits. One example is pineapple (Ananas), which is formed from the fusion of the berries with receptacle tissues and bracts.^[5][6]

In some plants, such as this noni, flowers are produced continuously and it is possible to see examples of flowering, fruit development and fruit ripening together on a single stem.

As shown in the photograph of the noni, stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they become connate (merge) into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarp. There are also many dry multiple fruits.^{[citation needed]}

Other examples of multiple fruits:

• Plane tree, multiple achenes from multiple flowers, in a single fruit structure
• Mulberry, multiple flowers form one fruit
• Breadfruit, multiple flowers form one fruit
• Fig, multiple flowers similar to mulberry infructescence form a multiple fruit inside the inverted inflorescence. This form is called a syconium.

Gallery

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  Ananas (pineapple)
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  Morus nigra (black mulberry)

See also

• Compound fruit

References

1. Schlegel (2003-05-13). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Plant Breeding and Related Subjects. p. 282. ISBN 9781560229506.
2. Hickey, M.; King, C. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University Press.
3. Beentje, H.; Williamson, J. (2010). The Kew Plant Glossary: an Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Terms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Kew Publishing.
4. Spjut, R.; Thieret, J. (1989). "Confusion between multiple and aggregate fruits". The Botanical Review. 55 (1): 53–72. doi:10.1007/bf02868781. S2CID 24994626.
5. "Multiple Fruits, Pineapple Multiple Fruit, Examples of Multiple Fruits, Types of Multiple Fruits". www.fruitsinfo.com. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
6. "Multiple Fruits". science.jburroughs.org. Retrieved 2022-03-18.