pericarp

American  

[per-i-kahrp] / ˈpɛr ɪˌkɑrp /

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.

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pericarp British  

/ 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

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pericarp Scientific  

/ pĕr′ĭ-kärp′ /

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.

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Other Word Forms

• pericarpial
  adjective
• pericarpic
  adjective
• pericarpoidal
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of pericarp

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

Example Sentences

For instance, strawberries are derived from the receptacle and apples from the pericarp, or hypanthium.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

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.

From Nature • Oct. 24, 2012

By dehiscence the pericarp becomes divided into different pieces, or valves, the fruit being univalvular, bivalvular or multivalvular, &c., according as there are one, two or many valves.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

The fruits of Luffa aegyptiaca have a number of closely netted vascular bundles in the pericarp, forming a kind of loose felt which supplies the well-known loofah or bath-sponge.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various

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

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa