{{Short description|Fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of fruiting flowers (inflorescence)}} thumb|Pineapple is a kind of multiple fruit
'''Multiple fruits''', also called '''collective fruits''' or '''multifruits''' are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of flowers, the ''inflorescence''. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass.<ref>{{cite book |last= Schlegel |title= Encyclopedic Dictionary of Plant Breeding and Related Subjects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7J-3fD67RqwC&q=acarpous&pg=PA282 |page=282|isbn= 9781560229506 |date= 2003-05-13 |publisher= Taylor & Francis }}</ref> After flowering, the mass is called an infructescence.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Hickey, M. |author2=King, C. |year=2001 |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Beentje, H. |author2=Williamson, J. |year=2010 |title=The Kew Plant Glossary: an Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Terms |publisher=Kew Publishing |location=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew}}</ref> Examples are the fig, pineapple, mulberry, osage orange, and jackfruit.
In contrast, an aggregate fruit such as a raspberry develops from multiple ovaries of a single flower. In languages other than English, the meanings of "multiple" and "aggregate" fruit are reversed, so that multiple fruits merge several pistils within a single flower.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Spjut, R. |author2=Thieret, J. |year=1989 |title=Confusion between multiple and aggregate fruits |journal=The Botanical Review |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=53–72 |doi=10.1007/bf02868781|bibcode=1989BotRv..55...53S |s2cid=24994626 }}</ref>
In some cases, the infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fruits. One example is pineapple (''Ananas''), which is formed from the fusion of the berries with receptacle tissues and bracts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Multiple Fruits, Pineapple Multiple Fruit, Examples of Multiple Fruits, Types of Multiple Fruits |url=https://www.fruitsinfo.com/multiple-fruit.php |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=www.fruitsinfo.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Multiple Fruits |url=https://science.jburroughs.org/resources/flower/fruit5.html |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=science.jburroughs.org |archive-date=2022-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108103359/https://science.jburroughs.org/resources/flower/fruit5.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[Image:Noni fruit dev.jpg|thumb|right|In some plants, such as this noni, flowers are produced continuously and it is possible to see examples of flowering, fruit development and fruit ripening together on a single stem.]]
As shown in the photograph of the noni, stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (''Morinda citrifolia'') can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they become ''connate'' (merge) into a ''multiple fleshy fruit'' called a ''syncarp''. There are also many dry multiple fruits.{{Cn|date=June 2021}}
Other examples of multiple fruits:
* Plane tree, multiple achenes from multiple flowers, in a single fruit structure * Mulberry, multiple flowers form one fruit * Breadfruit, multiple flowers form one fruit * Fig, multiple flowers similar to mulberry infructescence form a multiple fruit inside the inverted inflorescence. This form is called a syconium.
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Split ananas.jpg|''Ananas comosus'' (pineapple) File:Black mulberry fruit (Morus nigra).jpg|''Morus nigra'' (black mulberry) File:Noni fruit Madagascar1.jpg|''Morinda citrifolia'' (noni) File:Fig (Ficus carica) fruit halved.jpg|''Ficus carica'' (fig) File:Osage orange 2.jpg|''Maclura pomifera'' (Osage orange) File:Platanus x hispanica MHNT.BOT.2007.40.35.jpg|''Platanus x hispanica''. (London plane tree) File:Jackfruit photo.jpg|''Artocarpus heterophyllus'' (jackfruit) </gallery>
==See also== * Compound fruit
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Fruits}}
Category:Fruit morphology