Question

Syconus fruits develops from _____

Answer 1

Hint: Fruits are usually classified into simple, aggregate and composite. A simple fruit develops from a single ovary, an aggregate fruit develops from a single flower but may have many ovaries and a composite fruit develops from the whole inflorescence and other tissues may also involve in fruit development. Fig is an example of syconus fruit.

Complete answer:
By now, you are having an idea of how fruits are classified. Let us get a little deep into aggregate and composite fruit. Aggregate fruit is botanically originated from an apocarpous ovary. The term apocarpous means that the carpels are not fused and each of it develops into a fruitlet and several such fruitlets combine to give a single aggregate fruit. Custard apple and raspberry etc fall under this category. Composite fruit which is also called as a multiple fruit is developed from the whole inflorescence and mainly consists of sorosis and syconus. Cirrhosis develops from spike or spadix where all the flowers are fused by perianth and as a result of which the inflorescence gets compacted. Examples include pineapple. When coming to syconus, the fruit develops from hypanthodium which is formed from a fleshy receptacle ,the inner wall is lined with several small male flowers towards orifice and female flowers towards the base.. Examples include fig trees. So, the answer to the above question is hypanthodium.

Note:
Hypanthodium is a fruit-like inflorescence where it looks like a compact box formed from a fleshy receptacle that harbours many flowers which later develops into a fruit. The receptacle has an apical opening called orifice. Composite fruits are said to be false fruits as some tissues other than ovary are involved in fruit formation.