Inbotany,fleshy fruits arefruits which are fleshy and brightly coloured, making them attractive to animals which eat them and disperse theseeds. The word 'succulent fruit' is synonymous to fleshy fruit and both words are often used interchangeably.[1][2]
Fruits can be classed as fleshy fruits ordry fruits based on their pericarp. Anatomically, fleshy fruits have a fleshy pericarp which is divided in three layers: an outermost exocarp or epicarp, a middle mesocarp and the innermost endocarp.[1]
Fleshy fruits can be classed intosimple andcompound fruits.[1]
Simple fleshy fruits includeberries,drupes andaccessory fruits. Berries generally have many seeds, which includebananas andgooseberries. In contrast, drupes typically only have a single stone or pip, which includespeaches andmangoes. Accessory fruits, also known as false fruits or pseudocarps, develop from the ovary as well as other parts of theflower likereceptacle.[1][3] Simple fruits can also develop from flowers having compound ovaries.[citation needed]
Compound fruits includeaggregate fruits andmultiple fruits. Aggregate fruits likeraspberries develop from multiple ovaries in a single flower. While multiple fruits likefigs develop from ovaries from a cluster of multiple flowers called aninflorescence.[1][4]
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In fleshy or succulent fruits, the three layers of the pericarp are clearly distinguishable, unlike dry fruits. These layers vary in thickness in different kinds of fleshy fruits, and may also merge into one another during development. Inhesperidium, a group of berries which includecitrus fruits, the leathery exocarp and white mesocarp make up the peel, in which the exocarp is known as flavedo orzest and mesocarp is known as albedo. While in pepo, a group of berries includingmelons andcucumbers, the exocarp fuses with the receptacle to form the rind, and mesocarp and endocarp make up the flesh. Lychees have a single seed surrounded by a fleshyaril and a pericarp forming the peel.[1][5]
Aggregate fruits likeraspberries have a receptacle as the core, little fruits (drupelets) surround the core, each drupelet has an exocarp forming the peel, mesocarp forming the flesh and the hard endocarp surrounding the pips.[1]
Accessory fruits likesyconium, a group of false fruits includingfigs, have a fleshy infolded receptacle, the flowers are on the inside of the pseudocarp, which develop into drupelets of the fig. Flesh inpome, a group of false fruits includingapples, is mostly formed by the swollen receptacle and the fused exocarp and mesocarp, the endocarp makes up a film which surrounds the core and seeds. The edible flesh instrawberries is also a swollen receptacle with thedry fruits embedded on the outside.[1]