accessory fruit
- noun
- /ækˈsɛsəri frut/
- Specialized
:
fruto accesorio
- Strawberries are often discussed in botany classes as a classic accessory fruit.
Examples
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The apple is an example of an accessory fruit because its flesh develops from the receptacle, not just the ovary.
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Unlike a true berry, an accessory fruit includes tissues derived from flower parts other than the ovary.
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An apple is an example of an accessory fruit.
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Strawberries are classified as accessory fruits.
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The strawberry is a popular example of an accessory fruit because its fleshy part comes from the receptacle rather than the ovary.
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Many people enjoy eating accessory fruits like apples and strawberries, which develop from parts other than the ovary.
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Botanists often classify fruits such as mulberries and figs as accessory fruits due to their formation from multiple floral parts.
Synonyms
A fruit like an apple or strawberry that forms mostly from parts of the flower outside the ovary
A fruit like an apple or pear whose edible part comes from other flower parts
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'accessory' (auxiliary, not essential) gives a general clue that the fruit involves 'other' or additional tissues, so there is a partial compositional signal when combined with 'fruit.' However, the precise botanical meaning (that the fleshy part is derived from tissues other than the ovary) is technical and not predictable by a B1 learner who only knows the basic senses of the constituents, so prior domain knowledge is required.
Etymology
Accessory fruit comes from the idea that the tasty, fleshy part is an 'extra' — the word accessory — made from other parts of the flower instead of the seed part. Think of apples and strawberries; that's why accessory fruit means a fruit whose flesh develops from flower parts other than the 'ovary'.
