syncarp Bot.
(ˈsɪnkɑːp)
[ad. mod.L. syncarpium, f. Gr. σύν syn-1 + καρπός fruit.]
A multiple fruit, i.e. one arising from a number of carpels in one flower: most properly applied when the carpels are coherent (cf. next).
Usually distinguished from an aggregate or confluent fruit, i.e. one arising from a number of flowers.
| 1826–34 T. Edwards in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VII. 49 Compound fruits or syncarps. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 537 Starting from the definition that a fruit is always the product of a single ripe ovary, it follows that several fruits may arise from one flower... The ripe gynæceum has in such cases been termed a multiple fruit, but it would be much better to apply to it the term Syncarp. Thus..the..fruits..of Ranunculus or Clematis or..of Pæonia or Helleborus, form together a syncarp... The syncarp must not be confounded with the pseudocarp resulting from an entire inflorescence, as in..the mulberry and fig..or the pine-apple. |