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In the
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...
s, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or
gynoecium 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) '' pist ...
. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals. The pistil may be made up of one carpel or of several fused carpels (e.g. dicarpel or tricarpel), and therefore the ovary can contain part of one carpel or parts of several fused carpels. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary, and, for each individual pollen grain, to fertilize one individual ovule. Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries.


Fruits

A
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 partic ...
is the mature, ripened ovary of a flower following double fertilization in an angiosperm. Because gymnosperms do not have an ovary but reproduce through double fertilization of unprotected ovules, they produce naked
seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...
s that do not have a surrounding fruit. Fruits are responsible for the dispersal and protection of seeds in angiosperms and cannot be easily characterized due to the differences in defining culinary and botanical fruits.


Development

After double fertilization and ripening, the ovary becomes the fruit, the ovules inside the ovary become the seeds of that fruit, and the egg within the ovule becomes the
zygote A zygote (, ) is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote's genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information of a new individual organism. In multicell ...
. Double fertilization of the central cell in the ovule produces the nutritious endosperm tissue that surrounds the developing zygote within the seed. Angiosperm ovaries do not always produce a fruit after the ovary has been fertilized. Problems that can arise during the developmental process of the fruit include genetic issues, harsh environmental conditions, and insufficient energy which may be caused by competition for resources between ovaries; any of these situations may prevent maturation of the ovary.


Dispersal and evolutionary significance

Fruits are important in the dispersal and protection of seeds, and variation in fruit shape or size results from an evolutionary response that aids in the dispersal of seeds in different environments. For example, the seeds of large fleshy fruits are often dispersed through endozoochory; this means that animals consume the fleshy fruit and as a result disperse its seeds with their movement. The seeds of fruits can be dispersed by endozoochory, gravity, wind, or other means.


Complications and types of fruits

There are some complications to the definition of a fruit, as not all botanical fruits can be identified as culinary fruits. A ripened ovary may be a fleshy fruit such as a grapefruit or a dry fruit such as a nut. Further complicating this, culinary nuts are not always botanical nuts; some culinary nuts such as the coconut and almond are another type of fruit called a drupe. In this same way, not all "fruits" are true fruits. A true fruit only consists of the ripened ovary and its contents. Fruits can be separated into three major categories: simple fruits,
aggregate fruit A raspberry fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle larva) is an aggregate fruit, an aggregate of drupe">raspberry_beetle.html" ;"title="raspberry fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle">raspberry fruit (shown with a raspberry beetle larva) is an aggre ...
s, and multiple fruits. Simple fruits like oranges are formed from a single ovary which may or may not consist of multiple parts, while aggregate and multiple fruits are formed from several ovaries together. Aggregate fruits like raspberries are the ripened ovaries of one flower that form a single fruit, and multiple fruits like pineapples are formed from the ovaries of separate flowers that are close together. Because aggregate and multiple fruits are formed from many ripened ovaries together, they are actually infructescences or groups of fruits that are arranged together in a structure. Some fruits, like the apple, are accessory fruits which can include other parts of the flower such as the receptacle, hypanthium, perianth, or
calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...
in addition to the mature and ripened ovary.


Parts of the ovary

Locules are chambers within the ovary of the flower and fruits. The locules contain the ovules (seeds), and may or may not be filled with fruit flesh. Depending on the number of locules in the ovary, fruits can be classified as uni-locular (unilocular), bi-locular, tri-locular or multi-locular. Some plants have septa between the carpels; the number of locules present in a gynoecium may be equal to or less than the number of carpels, depending on whether septa are present. The ovules are attached to parts of the interior ovary walls called the placentae. Placental areas occur in various positions, corresponding to various parts of the carpels that make up the ovary. See Ovule#Location within the plant. An obturator is present in the ovary of some plants, near the
micropyle Micropyle may refer to: * Micropyle (botany) a minute opening in the integument of an ovule of a seed plant. * Micropyle (zoology) A micropyle is a pore in the membrane covering the ovum, through which a sperm enters. Micropyles are also found in s ...
of each ovule. It is an outgrowth of the placenta, important in nourishing and guiding pollen tubes to the micropyle. The ovary of some types of fruit is dehiscent; the ovary wall splits into sections called valves. There is no standard correspondence between the valves and the position of the septa; the valves may separate by splitting the septa (septicidal dehiscence), or by spitting between them (loculicidal dehiscence), or the ovary may open in other ways, as through pores or because a cap falls off. Piel De Sapo Melon.jpg, The syncarpous ovary of this
melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". T ...
is made up of four carpels, and has one locule. File:Peganum harmala Baikonur 09.jpg, In this '' Peganum harmala'', the ovary of a fruit has split into valves. File:Tomatoes plain and sliced.jpg, The seeds in a tomato fruit grow from placental areas at the interior of the ovary. (This is axile placentation in a bi-locular fruit.) File:Lunaria_annua_fruto.jpg, The placentae in '' Lunaria'' are along the margins of the fruit, where two carpels fuse. (This is parietal placentation in a bi-locular fruit.) File:Mustard seeds of some sort (5207615492).jpg, The valves of ''Lunaria'' fruit fall to reveal a septum that was between the two carpels of the ovary.


Classification based on position

image:Ovary position.svg, 300px, Ovary insertion: I superior II half-inferior III inferior. ''a'' androecium ''g'' gynoecium ''p'' petals ''s'' sepals ''r'' receptacle. The insertion point is where ''a'', ''p'', and ''s'' converge. The terminology of the positions of ovaries is determined by the insertion point, where the other floral parts ( perianth and
androecium The stamen ( plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the fil ...
) come together and attach to the surface of the ovary. If the ovary is situated above the insertion point, it is superior; if below, inferior.


Superior ovary

A superior ovary is an ovary attached to the receptacle above the attachment of other floral parts. A superior ovary is found in types of fleshy fruits such as true berries, drupes, etc. A flower with this arrangement is described as hypogynous. Examples of this ovary type include the legumes (beans and peas and their relatives).


Half-inferior ovary

A half-inferior ovary (also known as “half-superior”, “subinferior,” or “partially inferior,”) is embedded or surrounded by the receptacle. This occurs in flowers of the family Lythraceae, which includes the
crape myrtle ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Aust ...
s. Such flowers are termed perigynous or half-epigynous. In some classifications, half-inferior ovaries are not recognized and are instead grouped with either the superior or inferior ovaries. More specifically, a half-inferior ovary has nearly equal portions of ovary above and below the insertion point. Other varying degrees of inferiority can be described by other fractions. For instance, a "one-fifth inferior ovary" has approximately one fifth of its length under the insertion point. Likewise, only one quarter portion of a "three-quarters inferior ovary" is above the insertion.


Inferior ovary

An inferior ovary lies below the attachment of other floral parts. A pome is a type of fleshy fruit that is often cited as an example, but close inspection of some pomes (such as '' Pyracantha'') will show that it is really a half-inferior ovary. Flowers with inferior ovaries are termed epigynous. Some examples of flowers with an inferior ovary are orchids (inferior capsule), ''
Fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, '' Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic ...
'' (inferior berry), banana (inferior berry),
Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...
(inferior achene-like fruit, called a cypsela) and the
pepo PEPO Lappeenranta (abbreviated PEPO) is a football club from Lappeenranta in Finland. The club was formed in 1958 and their home ground is at the Kimpinen Sports Centre. The men's first team currently plays in the Ykkönen (Second Division). ...
of the squash, melon and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae.


See also

* Fruit anatomy


References

{{Authority control Organs (anatomy) Plant morphology