Question

What is a false fruit? Cite an example.

Answer 1

Hint: These are the fruits that develop from the ovary along with other accessory floral parts without going through the process of fertilization. Since these develop along with other accessory floral parts they are also known as accessory fruit.

Complete answer:
As we all know that fruits are produced only by flowering plants or angiosperms and the production of fruits from a flower is carried out by a series of processes, including pollination, fertilization, the formation of the zygote, and the development of the ovary into a fruit. Fruits are of two types: a false fruit and a true fruit.
False Fruits: The false fruits are the fruit, which is formed from the ripened ovary along with some other parts of the flower such as the base or receptacle, the perianth, thalamus, inflorescence, or calyx that means it is produced without fertilization from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel. The false fruit includes seedless fruits. Some examples of false fruit are apple, pear, gourd, and cucumber that develop from the thalamus, cashew-nut develops from the peduncle, jackfruit and pineapple develop from the entire inflorescence. Some other examples are banana, strawberry, etc.

Additional Information: True fruits: The true fruits are the fruit, which is formed from the fertilized ovary of the flower that means from the fertilized ovary of the perennial and ovules get converted into seeds. True fruits include aggregate, multiple and simple fruits. Some examples of true fruit are watermelon, lemon, cherry, blueberries, etc.
Technically we can say that a fruit is a mature seed containing structure solely formed from the carpels or ovaries of a single flower. But in the case of strawberry, the flower has many separate carpels embedded on the flower base or receptacle. The fleshy part of the fruit we eat is solely made from receptacle tissue so it is said to be a false fruit.

Note: -Some other terms used for accessory fruit are false fruit, spurious fruit, pseudofruit, or pseudocarp. -False fruits are parthenocarpic in nature as they do not contain seeds.
-Fruits are a rich source of essential nutrients that includes potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate, or folic acid.