accessory fruit

SEE SYNONYMS FOR accessory fruit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Botany.

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

Origin of accessory fruit

First recorded in 1895–1900

Words nearby accessory fruit

accessory apartment, accessory bud, accessory cell, accessory cephalic vein, accessory chromosome, accessory fruit, accessory gland, accessory hemiazygos vein, accessory ligament, accessory mineral, accessory nerve

Words related to accessory fruit

pome, pseudocarp

British Dictionary definitions for accessory fruit

accessory fruit

noun

another name for pseudocarp

Scientific definitions for accessory fruit

accessory fruit

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. Also called false fruit pseudocarp Compare aggregate fruit multiple fruit simple fruit.