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In botanical terminology, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines) and bananas, but exclude certain fruits commonly called berries, such as strawberries and raspberries. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into potentially edible "pericarp". Berries may be formed from one or more carpels from the same flower (i.e. from a simple or a compound ovary). The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy exceptions, such as peppers, with air rather than pulp around their seeds. Many berries are edible, but others, such as the fruits of the potato and the deadly nightshade, are poisonous to humans. Some berries such as the white and red mulberry are poisonous when unripe, but are edible in their ripe form. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate (a fruit that resembles a berry, whether it actually is a berry or not, can also be called "baccate"). In everyday English, "berry" is a term for any small edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, round, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present.〔 == Botanical berries == In botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and fleshy pulp (the pericarp) produced from the ovary of a single flower. The ovary can be inferior or superior. It is indehiscent, i.e. it does not have a special "line of weakness" along which it splits to release the seeds when ripe.〔 The pericarp is divided into three layers. The outer layer is called the "exocarp" or "epicarp"; the middle layer the "mesocarp" or "sarcocarp"; the inner layer the "endocarp". Botanists have not applied these terms consistently. Exocarp and endocarp may be restricted to more-or-less single-layered "skins", or may include tissues adjacent to them; thus on one view, the exocarp extends inwards to the layer of vascular bundles ("veins"). The inconsistency in usage has been described as "a source of confusion". The nature of the endocarp distinguishes a berry from a drupe, which has a hardened or stony endocarp (see also below). The two kinds of fruit intergrade, depending on the state of the endocarp. Some sources have attempted to quantify the difference, e.g. requiring the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick in a berry.〔 Examples of botanical berries include: * Banana〔〔 * Barberry (''Berberis''), Oregon-grape (''Mahonia aquifolium'') and Mayapple (''Podophyllum'' spp.) (Berberidaceae) * Strawberry tree (''Arbutus unedo''), not to be confused with the strawberry (''Fragaria''), Bearberry (''Arctostaphylos'' spp.), Bilberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Lingonberry/Cowberry (''Vaccinium vitis-idaea''), Crowberry (''Empetrum'' spp.) (family Ericaceae) * Coffee berries (Rubiaceae) * Gooseberry and Currant (''Ribes'' spp.; Grossulariaceae), red, black, and white types * Aubergine/Eggplant, Tomato, Goji berries (Wolfberry) and other species of the family Solanaceae * Elderberry (''Sambucus niger''; Adoxaceae) * Indian gooseberry ''(Phyllanthus emblica)'' (Phyllanthaceae) * ''Garcinia gummi-gutta'', ''Garcinia mangostana'' (Mangosteen) and ''Garcinia indica'' in the family Clusiaceae. * Sapodilla (''Manilkara zapota''), Sapotaceae * Grape, ''Vitis vinifera'' in the family Vitaceae * Honeysuckle: the berries of ''some'' species are edible and are called honeyberries, but others are poisonous (''Lonicera'' spp.; Caprifoliaceae) * Persimmon (Ebenaceae) * Pumpkin, Cucumber and Watermelon in the family Cucurbitaceae 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Berry (botany)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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