Question

Edible part of tomato is
A. Epicarp
B. Pericarp and placenta
C. Mesocarp
D. Thalamus

Answer 1

Hint: A fruit typically grows from a ripe ovary or some portion of the floral region. Fruits can be true or false on the basis of the floral parts they produce. A tomato is a true fruit. They emerge from a mature and ripened ovary and contain seeds.

Complete answer:
The fruit is the characteristic feature of the flowering plant. It is a mature or ripened ovary that arises after fertilisation. The fruit is typically made of a wall or pericarp and seeds. Pericarp may be either dry or fleshy. When the pericarp is thick and fleshy, it is divided into the outer epicarp, the middle mesocarp and the inner endocarp.

Most fruits emerge only from the ovaries and are known as true fruits. True fruits grow after the completion of the normal fertilisation process in the flowering plant. After the fertilisation process, the ovules become the seeds of the plant, while the ovaries turn into the fruit's fleshy part.

The fruit of the tomato is produced from the ovary of the flower. The tomato is fleshy due to the walls and skin of the pericarp. The pericarp is composed of the inner wall, the columella; the radial wall, the septa; and the outer wall. Pericarp and placenta are the fleshy tissues of the tomato. The seeds grow connected to the gelatinous placenta and fill the locular cavities during fruit growth and ripening.

Thus, the correct answer is option B i.e., Pericarp and placenta.

Note:The tomato though commonly classified as a vegetable is really a fruit, a berry in fact. Tomato fruits exhibit all of the common characteristics of berries.