Fruit

In botany, a fruit is a part of a flowering plant that derives from specific tissues of the flower, one or more ovaries, and in some cases accessory tissues. Fruits are the means by which these plants disseminate seeds. Many of them that bear edible fruits, in particular, have propagated with the movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship as a means for seed dispersal and nutrition, respectively; in fact, humans and many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings.

The section of a fungus that produces spores is also called a fruiting body. In common language usage, "fruit" normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas. On the other hand, the botanical sense of "fruit" includes many structures that are not commonly called "fruits", such as bean pods, corn kernels, wheat grains, and tomatoes.

Read more about Fruit:  Botanic Fruit and Culinary Fruit, Fruit Development, Seedless Fruits, Seed Dissemination, Uses, Safety, Storage

Famous quotes containing the word fruit:

    And, shrilling from the solar course,
    Or from fruit of chemic force,
    Procession of a soul in matter,
    Or the speeding change of water,
    Or out of the good of evil born,
    Came Uriel’s voice of cherub scorn,
    And a blush tinged the upper sky,
    And the gods shook, they knew not why.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may outweigh a million, is not being increased these days.... Such do not know that like the seed is the fruit, and that, in the moral world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is inevitable, and does not depend on our watering and cultivating; that when you plant, or bury, a hero in his field, a crop of heroes is sure to spring up. This is a seed of such force and vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s rights.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)