Aggregate fruit facts for kids
Imagine a fruit that grows from just one flower. But this special flower has many tiny parts that can become fruit, called 'ovaries'. As the fruit grows, these tiny ovaries all join together to make one bigger fruit. This is called an aggregate fruit.
If a fruit comes from a single flower with only one ovary, it's a simple fruit. Think of an apple or a cherry.
Not every flower with many ovaries turns into an aggregate fruit. Sometimes, the ovaries don't join tightly. They might stay separate.
Some aggregate fruits are also accessory fruits. This means that other parts of the flower, not just the ovaries, become juicy and form part of the fruit.
Examples of Aggregate Fruits
Here are some common aggregate fruits you might know:
- Raspberry: Each small bump on a raspberry is a tiny fruit that came from one of the flower's ovaries. They all stick together to form the raspberry you eat.
- Blackberry: Like raspberries, blackberries are made of many small fruit parts joined together.
- Strawberry: A strawberry is a great example of an aggregate fruit that is also an accessory fruit. The tiny, dark dots on the outside of a strawberry are the actual fruits (the ovaries). The big, juicy red part that you love to eat grows from the base of the flower, not from the ovaries themselves.
Related pages
Images for kids
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The fruit of an Aquilegia flower forms from several ovaries of one flower. However, because these parts are not fused together, it is not considered an aggregate fruit.
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A sugar apple fruit forms from the pistils and receptacle of one flower.
See also
In Spanish: Eterio para niños
