Orbis Environmental Consulting

Menu

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF BOTANY – MAY 2013

 

Fruit Salad Part IV

Scott Namestnik, snamestnik@orbisec.com

Ready for a final bite of fruit salad?  In this column in the past three issues of The Plant Press, we’ve looked at fleshy fruit and dry fruit.  One thing that all of the types of fruit that we’ve examined to date have had in common is that they all are simple fruits, or fruits that develop from a single carpel or several united carpels.  The carpel is the combined female reproductive organ, consisting of the stigma, usually a style, and the ovary.Raspberry

 

When a single flower has more than one carpel but they are not united, the resulting fruit is known as an aggregate fruit.  Aggregate fruits can be fleshy or dry.  Examples of dry aggregate fruits would be those that form clusters of achenes and those that form clusters of follicles.  Clusters of berries or clusters of drupelets form fleshy aggregate fruits.  The raspberry (Rubus spp.) is an example of a fleshy aggregate fruit formed from a cluster of drupelets. Things get interesting when the receptacle is incorporated into the aggregate fruit, such as in strawberries (Fragaria spp.).  In this case, the fruit is considered an aggregate-accessory fruit.  Note that in this example, the fleshy red portion is the receptacle, and the “seeds” on the surface are actually not seeds, but instead are individual fruitlets that each contain a single seed.

 

PineappleA final type of fruit forms when a cluster of flowers produce fruit that mass together into one conglomerate fruit known as a multiple fruit.  Common examples of multiple fruit include mulberries (Morus spp.), Osage orange (Maclura pomifera), and pineapple (Ananus comosus).

 

All of these fruits have developed to provide different reproductive strategies for the plants on which they grow.  Consider the reproductive strategy of a plant the next time you bite into a fruit.

 

If you have a question about flowers and fruits that you would like answered in a future edition of this column, send me an email at snamestnik@orbisec.com.  I may not be able to address all requests given the space allotted for this column, but I will answer those that I can.

 Click here to see more of Scott’s informative work

<Back to Your Daily Dose of Botany

 

Illustrations © 2011 Pearson Education

Tessa M. Aby-Kruger

Botanist

Tessa is a geologist, botanist and vegetation ecologist with over 10 years of experience managing and conducting projects, specializing in ecological and floristic inventories, rare plant surveys, and vegetation monitoring. She also performs wetland evaluations and is a guided hike leader.

Jeremy Sheets

Senior Wildlife Biologist, Vice President

Jeremy is a founding member of Orbis and directs its ecological and wildlife surveys, assessment and planning services, and brings over 20 years’ experience conducting various wildlife surveys with a focus on bat ecology and urban wildlife management.


Jeremy has managed wildlife projects for private firms and the public sector including for wind facilities, pipelines, roadways, military bases, and airports. Jeremy is proficient in wildlife management/control techniques, wildlife identification, threatened and endangered species, and surveying and analysis techniques for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects. Jeremy is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologists who develop Wildlife Hazard Assessments (WHA) and Wildlife Hazard Management Plans (WHMP) for airports. Jeremy is qualified to inspect erosion, sediment and stormwater plans, and their implementation. Furthermore, Jeremy is federally permitted to conduct endangered bat surveys in USFWS Regions 3, 4, 5, and 6 and includes acoustic surveys, mist-netting, and radio telemetry.

J Ryan Duddleson​

Senior Archaeologist, Principal

Ryan is a founding member of Orbis and directs its cultural resource management services, and brings over 20 years’ experience helping clients assess and minimize the risk of impacting places with cultural value.


Ryan works with public sector clients including federal, state, and municipal government, as well as private firms in energy, transportation, industrial, and development sectors. He also coordinates with agencies and consulting parties involved with the National Environmental Policy Act, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and other related cultural resource laws and regulations. He performs archival research, analysis, and excavation. Ryan also has experience in artifact and archival curation. He has applied innovative techniques to traditional artifact analysis, such as examining organic residues from prehistoric pottery to determine prior contents. Ryan also has experience with human remains in archaeological settings. Ryan meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation, 48 FR. 44716 and is a Qualified Professional Archaeologist in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.