Question

What is the edible part of orange?
A. Unicelled placental hairs
B. Unicelled endocarp hairs
C. Multicelled endocarp hairs
D. Multicelled placental hairs

Answer 1

Hint: Orange is a type of hesperidium fruit that consists of a hard leathery pericarp, endocarp and fibrous mesocarp. It is a modified form of berry orange that belongs to the Rutaceae family and is one of the fruits of citrus species. Bitter orange is the other type of orange which belongs to the Citrus aurantium species.

Complete answer: The edible portion of orange is endocarp which is divided into segments; the fibrous core part at the centre and the outer membrane. These segments mainly contain juice sacs.
The peel of orange has several oil glands. The interior portion is fleshy and is divided into separate sections known as carpels. These carpels have fluid-filled vesicles and are a specialized form of hair cells. Two walls of the ovary are present; one is thick and spongy and the inner one is juicy. The outermost layer is of epicarp, which is made up of epidermis, parenchymatous cells and oil glands. Inside the pith, the endocarp is present and has carpels containing juice follicles. The characteristic colour of the orange is due to carotenoids. The endocarp and mesocarp derived juicy placental hairs are the edible portion of the orange.
Hence, option A is the correct answer.

Note: Like most citrus plants, oranges grow well under moderate temperatures, i.e. between 15 and 29 °C and require considerable amounts of sunshine and water. It is possible to grow orange trees directly from seeds.