Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 6/2/2007

Question
Hi,
   I wonder if you could tell me if plant fruits are living organisms like the plant itself? Actually, can corn be considered as a fruit? Thank you.

Answer
Dear Pierre,

Plants are composed of living tissue, but the plant itself really cannot be considered an individual organism, since it cannot reproduce by itself or live after it's been detached from the plant that produced it.  

On the other hand, a fruit contains seeds.  And inside every seed is a plant embryo, a potential new individual.  So if you consider *only* the fruit tissue, I'd say know.  But if you include the seeds (which really aren't *part* of the fruit, but only the passengers inside it), then you could say that there are individuals in the fruit.  (Does that make sense?)

A fruit is anything that develops from a plant ovulary (where the ova are located, and will become part of the seeds).  Every corn kernel on a cob developed from a single ovulary, so each corn kernel is considered an individual fruit.  Each kernel also contains one corn embryo that will eventually grow into a corn plant, given the right environment.

The entire corn cob is known as an *aggregate fruit*--a structure on a single stalk that bears many individual fruits.  Other examples of aggregate fruits include things like raspberries and blackberries (each little "ball" on the "berry" is actually an individual fruit) and many others.

Hope that's not too much dry botany for a nice, peaceful Sunday!  :)

Take care,
Dana