Fruit is the ripened ovary of any flowering plant, or angiosperm, and usually contains one or more seeds.
Classification of Fruit
By definition, fruit refer to such edibles as tomatoes, string beans, corn, peas, and mustard, as well as to nuts, acorns, oranges, peaches, and others. Tomatoes, string, beans, and peaches, for example, are fruits that are eaten whole. Peas, corn, and mustard are the seeds, or fertilized ovules, of fruits. Flour is ground from the fruit of the wheat plant, and coffee is made from the seeds of the coffee fruit, or bean.
Some fruits, called accessory fruits, are partly derived from flower structures other than the ovary. Most accessory fruits, such as bananas, cucumbers, and gooseberries, are fleshy throughout and are thus called pomes; the edible part is the fleshy exterior, and the true fruit forms the core.
Fruits promote seed dispersal and seed germination. Animals that eat fleshy fruits may spit out or expel undigested seeds with the feces and deposit them is a new location. Dry fruits, such as nuts, may be carried about by animals such as the squirrel and left in some forgotten hiding place. Fruits with burrs, hooks or wing blades may be scattered widely by the wind or clinging to the pelt of a passing animal, be transported to other locations. Fruits that fall to the ground eventually decay, aiding seed development by enriching the soil.
The nutritional value of fruit varies. Many have few calories because they are composed largely of water: a ripe tomato, for example, may be 97 percent water. Such fruits are valued in the human diet primarily for their vitamin content and their distinctive tastes and textures.
Soybeans and peanuts, on the other hand, have high protein and caloric content, and valuable oil seeds. Cereal grains are humankind’s major food, contributing more than two thirds of the world production of edible dry matter and half of the world’s protein.