Question

Name the type of fruit which is formed from a cluster of flowers.
A. Multiple fruit
B. Alternate fruit
C. Berries
D. Aggregate fruit

Answer 1

Hint: While aggregate fruits are formed out of a number of free ovaries within a single flower, the multiple or composite fruit is formed by all the flowers of a whole inflorescence grouped together.

Complete answer:
The fruit is a signature feature of the flowering plant. It is a mature or ripened ovary that forms after fertilisation. The fruit is usually made up of a wall or pericarp and seeds. Pericarp can be dry or fleshy. When the pericarp is thick and fleshy, it separates into the outer epicarp, the middle mesocarp and the inner endocarp.

Fruits are classified according to the arrangement from which they are derived. Fruits can be classified into four kinds- simple, multiple, aggregate, and accessory fruits. Simple fruits grow from a sole ovary of a single flower and can be fleshy or dry. The key varieties of fleshy fruit are berries, the entire pericarp of which is smooth and pulpy (e.g., tomatoes, bananas) and drupe (e.g., peach, plum), which has a pulpy, fibrous outer layer, and a hardened endocarp forming a pit or stone with one or more seeds. The aggregate fruit consists of a group of tiny drupes, each of which has originated from the different ovaries of one flower (e.g. blackberry and raspberry).

A multiple fruit is produced from the ovary of several flowers developing in a cluster, e.g. pineapple. Each flower produces a fruit, but all of them grow into a single mass to become a composite fruit. Accessory fruits contain tissue originating from plant sections other than the ovaries.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A)

Note: 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. True fruit is also known as eucarp. They emerge from a mature and ripened ovary and contain seeds. False fruits do not develop from the wall of the ovary.