Silique

{{Short description|Type of seed capsule, with the length more than three times the width}} {{Other uses|Siliqua (disambiguation)}} {{More citations needed|date = September 2018}} [[Image:Cardamine.impatiens.pods.jpg|thumb|Siliquae of ''Cardamine impatiens'']]

A '''silique''' or '''siliqua''' ({{plural form}} '''siliques''' or '''siliquae''') is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hickey, M. |author2=King, C. |year=2001 |title= The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit it is referred to as a '''silicle'''.<ref name="HuisingaMakarick2006">{{cite book|author1=Kristin Huisinga|author2=Lori Makarick|author3=Kate Watters|title=River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hA8KAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA241|year=2006|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-87842-523-5|pages=241–}}</ref> The outer walls of the ovary (the ''valves'') usually separate when ripe, then being named ''dehiscent'', and leaving a persistent partition (the ''replum''). ''Siliques'' are present in many members of the mustard family, Brassicaceae, but some species have ''silicles'' instead. Some species closely related to plants with true ''siliques'' have fruits with a similar structure that do not open when ripe; these are usually called ''indehiscent siliques'' (compare dehiscence).

<gallery> File:Lunaria annua MHNT.BOT.2004.0.779.jpg|Silicles of ''Lunaria annua'' – MHNT File:Capsella bursa-pastoris Sturm23.jpg|''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' with silicles File:Raphanus sativus 004.jpg|Indehiscent siliques of radish ''Raphanus sativus'' File:Cardamine occulta - Silique.jpg|Silique with seeds of ''Cardamine occulta'' File:Broccoli siliques, hauwen (1).jpg|Siliques of the broccoli plant. </gallery>

==See also== * Legume – a fruit type that somewhat resembles a silique, but is derived from one carpel that typically splits along two sides.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{cite journal|vauthors=Yu YK, Li YL, Ding LN, Sarwar R, Zhao FY, Tan XL|title=Mechanism and Regulation of Silique Dehiscence, Which Affects Oil Seed Production|journal=Frontiers in Plant Science|volume=11|year=2020|page=580 |doi=10.3389/fpls.2020.00580|article-number=580|doi-access=free|pmid=32670302 |pmc=7326126}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Silique}}

Category:Fruit morphology