Simple fruit
Simple fruits can be either dry or fleshy, and result from the ripening of a simple or compound ovary in a flower with only one pistil. Dry fruits may be either dehiscent (opening to discharge seeds), or indehiscent (not opening to discharge seeds). Types of dry, simple fruits, with examples of each, are:
achene - Most commonly seen in aggregate fruits (e.g. strawberry)
capsule – (Brazil nut)
caryopsis – (wheat)
Cypsela - An achene-like fruit derived from the individual florets in a capitulum (e.g. dandelion).
fibrous drupe – (coconut, walnut)
follicle – is formed from a single carpel, and opens by one suture (e.g. milkweed). More commonly seen in aggregate fruits (e.g. magnolia)
legume – (pea, bean, peanut)
loment - a type of indehiscent legume
nut – (hazelnut, beech, oak acorn)
samara – (elm, ash, maple key)
schizocarp – (carrot seed)
silique – (radish seed)
silicle – (shepherd's purse)
utricle – (beet)
Fruits in which part or all of the pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are simple fleshy fruits.
Types of fleshy, simple fruits (with examples) are:
berry – (redcurrant, gooseberry, tomato, cranberry)
stone fruit or drupe (plum, cherry, peach, apricot, olive)
n aggregate fruit, or etaerio, develops from a single flower with numerous simple pistils.
Magnolia and Peony, collection of follicles developing from one flower.
Sweet gum, collection of capsules.
Sycamore, collection of achenes.
Teasel, collection of cypsellas
Tuliptree, collection of samaras.
The pome fruits of the family Rosaceae, (including apples, pears, rosehips, and saskatoon berry) are a syncarpous fleshy fruit, a simple fruit, developing from a half-inferior ovary.
Schizocarp fruits form from a syncarpous ovary and do not really dehisce, but split into segments with one or more seeds; they include a number of different forms from a wide range of families. Carrot seed is an example.
Aggregate fruit
Aggregate fruits form from single flowers that have multiple carpels which are not joined together, i.e. each pistil contains one carpel. Each pistil forms a fruitlet, and collectively the fruitlets are called an etaerio. Four types of aggregate fruits include etaerios of achenes, follicles, drupelets, and berries. Ranunculaceae species, including Clematis and Ranunculus have an etaerio of achenes, Calotropis has an etaerio of follicles, and Rubus species like raspberry, have an etaerio of drupelets. Annona have Etaerio of berries.
The raspberry, whose pistils are termed drupelets because each is like a small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits (such as blackberry) the receptacle is elongated and part of the ripe fruit, making the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit. The strawberry is also an aggregate-accessory fruit, only one in which the seeds are contained in achenes. In all these examples, the fruit develops from a single flower with numerous pistils.
Multiple fruits
A multiple fruit is one formed from a cluster of flowers (called an inflorescence). Each flower produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. Examples are the pineapple, fig, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfruit.
In the photograph on the right, 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 syncarpet.
Berries
Berries are another type of fleshy fruit; they are simple fruit created from a single ovary. The ovary may be compound, with several carpels. Type include (examples follow in the table below):
Pepo – Berries where the skin is hardened, cucurbits
Hesperidium – Berries with a rind and a juicy interior, like most citrus fruit
