Explain structure of fruit and give information about its types.

 As ovules mature into seeds, the ovary develops into a fruit, i.e., the transformation of ovules into seeds and ovary into fruit proceeds simultaneously. The wall of the ovary develops into the wall of fruit called pericarp.

The fruits may be fleshy as in guava, orange, mango, etc., or may be dry, as in groundnut, and mustard, etc. Many fruits have evolved mechanisms for dispersal of seeds.

          In most plants, by the time the fruit develops from the ovary, other floral parts degenerate and fall off. However, in a few species such as apple, strawberry, cashew, etc., the thalamus also contributes to fruit formation. Such fruits are called false fruits .

Most fruits however develop only from the ovary and are called true fruits. Although in most of the species, fruits are the results of fertilisation, there are a few species in which fruits develop without fertilisation.

Such fruits are called parthenocarpic fruits. Banana is one such example. Parthenocarpy can be induced through the application of growth hormones and such fruits are seedless.