In botany, a follicle is a dry unilocular

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

formed from one

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

, containing two or more seeds. It is usually defined as dehiscing by a suture in order to release seeds, for example in ''

Consolida ''Consolida'' is a genus of about 40 species of annual flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to western Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia. Phylogenetic studies show that ''Consolida'' is actually an annual clade nested within the ...

'' (some of the larkspurs), peony and milkweed (''Asclepias''). Some difficult cases exist however, so that the term indehiscent follicle is sometimes used, for example with the genus ''

Filipendula ''Filipendula'' is a genus of 12 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-known species include meadowsweet ('' Filipendula ulmaria'') and dropwort ...

'', which has indehiscent fruits that could be considered intermediate between a (dehiscent) follicle and an (indehiscent) achene. An aggregate fruit that consists of follicles may be called a follicetum. Examples include

hellebore Commonly known as hellebores (), the Eurasian genus ''Helleborus'' consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. ...

, aconite, ''

Delphinium ''Delphinium'' is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linn ...

'', ''

Aquilegia ''Aquilegia'' (common names: granny's bonnet, columbine) is a genus of about 60–70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals Pu ...

'' or the family

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crass ...

, where several follicles occur in a whorl on a shortened receptacle, or '' Magnolia'', which has many follicles arranged in a spiral on an elongated receptacle. The follicles of some species dehisce by the ventral suture (as in ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range ...

''), or by the dorsal suture (as in ''Magnolia'').Kapil, R. N. and N. N. Bhandari (1964
Morphology and embryology of ''Magnolia''
. Proc. nat. Inst. Sci. India 30, 245-262. File:Follicles of Helleborus foetidus.JPG, Follicles from ''

Helleborus foetidus ''Helleborus foetidus'', known variously as stinking hellebore , dungwort, setterwort and bear's foot, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to the mountainous regions of Central and Southern Europe and Asi ...

'' File:Banksia integrifolia and marginata cones.jpg, Only some flowers in a ''

'' inflorescence mature into follicles embedded in the "cone" File:Stenocarpus sinuatus, vrugte, Manie van der Schijff BT.jpg, Follicles of ''

Stenocarpus sinuatus ''Stenocarpus sinuatus'', known as the firewheel tree, is an Australian rainforest tree in the family Proteaceae. The range of natural distribution is in various rainforest types from the Nambucca River (30° S) in New South Wales to the Ath ...

'' will release papery brown seeds

References

External links

* Fruit morphology {{botany-stub