ANTHOCARP

Definition of ANTHOCARP

noun

Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal. Lower part of a perianth containing the fruit, the upper part having dropped away, well seen in plants of the family Nyctaginaceae. In the Nyctaginaceae, individual apetalous flowers have a tubular, petaloid calyx that resembles a sympetalous corolla. The lower portion of the calyx tightly enwraps the one-seeded achene and is persistent around the fruit as an anthocarp. The calyx base plus the enclosed seed-bearing achene is the unit of dispersal. A collective, composite or aggregated fruit formed from an entire inflorescence, as in the sorosis of a pineapple or the syconus of a fig. A fruit resulting from many flowers, such as the pineapple; a fruit of which the perianth or the torus forms part. A composite false fruit, consisting of the actual fruit and the perianth. A fruit formed by the union of the floral organs or part of them, with the fruit itself, as in Nyctagineae; also applied to fruits with accessories, sometimes termed pseudocarps, as the strawberry and pineapple.

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