I. Angiosperm gynoecia essential for human survival:
 

1. LEGUME: Single carpel, multi-seeded, dehiscent along two sutures (wild types), seed mostly young sporophyte (high protein):
 
• Peanut - geocarpic, pericarp, testa, cotyledons (high protein - endosperm converted to embryo - true of most FABACEAE [Leguminosae].
• Green Bean - single line of ovules (nearly mature)
• Snow Pea - ovules and fruit less mature

2. CARYOPSIS: More than one carpel BUT only a single seed. Seed, mostly endosperm (high starch), is fused to the pericarp
 

• Corn (maize) - FRUIT is a CARYOPSIS but the EAR is a MULTIPLE fruit [fruits from separate flowers of a single INFLORESCENCE combined in a single structure. Note inflorescence stalk [RACHIS] or corncob.
 

3. DRUPE: Single carpel, single-seeded, pericarp tissue differentiated into THREE layers: EXOCARP, MESOCARP, ENDOCARP:
 
• Peach - exocarp with fuzz
• Nectarine and Plum - exocarp without fuzz
• Almond - exocarp/mesocarp removed, just PYRENE [=endocarp and seed]
• Avocado - endocarp VERY thin
• Coconut - mesocarp fibrous ,[dispersal], testa thin, endosperm both solid [meat] and liquid [milk]
• Raspberry - an AGGREGATE (separate ovaries of one flower joined together) of small drupes [druplets]
 

4. ACHENE: More than one carpel, one seed, pericarp a single layer of tissue and SEPARATED from the seed. The CARYOPSIS [fruit of the grass family - POACEAE] is similar in structure BUT pericarp and seed are united.
 

• Sunflower - Fruit [for the birds] and seed [for people]
• Strawberry - FRUIT is a tiny achene (many positioned in 'pits' that occur in the expanded, red, sweet RECEPTACLE of the 'AGGREGATE FRUIT' [a 'false' fruit]

5. BERRY: More than one carpel, fleshy [animal dispersed] and many-seeded.
 

• Tomato (Roma and 'cherry') - two carpels/locules - primitive
• Tomato (normal) - extra septa and locules
• Peppers - midway between a CAPSULE [dry, dehiscent] and a berry
• Egg Plant - selected for extra tissue - no locules
• Kiwi fruit - leathery, fuzzy pericarp with many carpels, seeds attached on a central mass of white tissue
• Banana - epigynous - 'peel' is a combination of pericarp and HYPANTHIUM - a sterile polyploid, ovules are aborted

6. PEPO: a 'special' BERRY from an epigynous flower of the CUCURBITACEAE - leathery or hard 'rind' (Pericarp + hypanthium), 1 locule, and 3 lines of ovules.
 

• Cucurbita - summer' squash vs. 'winter' squash [pumpkin]
• Cucumber - entire fruit is consumed

7. HESPERIDIUM: a 'special' berry with numerous carpels (separable as 'sections'); locules filled by plump cells;pericarp covered by oil glands. Fruit produced by the genus Citrus.
 

• Orange, lemon, lime - distinctive essential oils

 

8. POME: a 'false fruit' that is formed by fusion of the HYPANTHIUM [flower epigynous] to the ovary, with the hypanthium forming the edible portion.
 

• Apple/Pear - note sepals opposed to the pedicel [epigyny], internal demarcation between ovary wall and hypanthium, locules of ovary

9. MULTIPLE 'FRUIT': a fruiting inflorescence with true fruits from separate flowers combined into a single unit (essentially a fruit-like infructescence). The maize ear is a unit formed from a pistillate inflorescence.
 

• Pineapple - each perfect flower forms a berry, but they are compressed together to form the pineapple. Note the central RACHIS of both pineapple and maize ear (cob) - hard, fibrous = vascularized shoot (as opposed to percarp) tissue.