accessory fruit

noun

Botany.

1. a fruit, as the apple, strawberry, or pineapple, that contains, in addition to a mature ovary and seeds, a significant amount of other tissue.

accessory fruit

noun

1. another name for pseudocarp

accessory fruit

1. A fruit, such as the pear or strawberry, that develops from a ripened ovary or ovaries but also has tissue derived from part of the plant outside the ovary. In pears and other pomes, the edible flesh is a swollen part of the stem, and the fruit is the seed-bearing core. In the strawberry, the receptacle is fleshy, and the fruits are achenes embedded in its surface.

2. Also called false fruit pseudocarp

3. Compare aggregate fruit multiple fruit simple fruit

Word History and Origins

Origin of accessory fruit¹

First recorded in 1895–1900