pericarp

[per-i-kahrp]

noun

Botany.

1. the walls of a ripened ovary or fruit, sometimes consisting of three layers, the epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp.

2. a membranous envelope around the cystocarp of red algae.

pericarp

/ ˈpɛrɪˌkɑːp /

noun

1. the part of a fruit enclosing the seeds that develops from the wall of the ovary

2. a layer of tissue around the reproductive bodies of some algae and fungi

pericarp

1. The tissue that arises from the ripened ovary wall of a fruit; the fruit wall. In fleshy fruits, the pericarp can often be divided into the exocarp, the mesocarp, and the endocarp. For example, in a peach, the skin is the exocarp, the yellow flesh is the mesocarp, while the stone or pit surrounding the seed represents the endocarp.

Other Word Forms

• pericarpial adjective
• pericarpic adjective
• pericarpoidal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pericarp¹

1750–60; < New Latin pericarpium < Greek perikárpion pod. See peri-, -carp

Word History and Origins

Origin of pericarp¹

C18: via French from New Latin pericarpium

Example Sentences

The three colors of the candy—a big yellow end, an orange center and a pointed white tip—mimic the three parts of a corn kernel: the tip cap, endosperm and pericarp.

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Another three well-characterized domestication genes, qSH1 for seed shattering, Waxy for grain quality and Rc for pericarp colour, which showed strong selection signals in the panel, were not fully shared in the population.

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Fruit dehiscing irregularly, the pericarp thin, loose and usually roughened; not salt-marsh plants.

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Having some portion of the floral envelopes attached to the pericarp to form the fruit, as in the checkerberry, the mulberry, and the pineapple.

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Divided into two cells or compartments; as, a bilocular pericarp.

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