Biology · Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants · NEET
Apple is a false fruit. The fleshy part you eat is mainly the thalamus (the swollen base of the flower), not the ovary wall. Because a structure other than the ovary forms the edible fruit, it is called a false fruit. NCERT names apple, strawberry and cashew as examples of false fruits.
A true fruit develops ONLY from the ovary after fertilisation (for example mango, tomato). A false fruit develops from the ovary PLUS another floral part, usually the thalamus. So the test is simple: if only the ovary made the fruit it is true; if the thalamus (or another part) also joined in, it is false.
The pericarp is the fruit wall, and it forms from the ovary wall. It can be dry (as in pea, mustard) or fleshy. When fleshy it has three layers from outside to inside: epicarp (skin), mesocarp (fleshy middle) and endocarp (innermost, often hard). In a true fruit the whole edible portion is pericarp.
The thalamus is the tip of the stalk where flower parts sit. In most flowers it stays small, but in apple, pear, strawberry and cashew it grows and becomes juicy after fertilisation. Because this extra floral part becomes part of the fruit, the fruit is called false. In NEET diagrams, if the label points to the thalamus as the fleshy part, the answer is 'false fruit'.
As the ovary becomes the fruit, the ovules inside it become the seeds. So one line to remember for post-fertilisation events: ovary to fruit, ovules to seeds, zygote to embryo, central cell to endosperm. NEET often tests this exact set of conversions.
Which part of the fruit, labelled in the given figure, makes it a false fruit?
Which one of the following statements regarding post-fertilisation development in flowering plants is incorrect?
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
Tomato is a true fruit. Its fleshy part develops only from the ovary, so no extra floral part is involved. Mango, tomato, orange and pea are common true fruits in NEET.
Both are false fruits. In cashew and strawberry the thalamus becomes the fleshy part, not the ovary wall. NCERT lists apple, strawberry and cashew together as false fruits.
From outside to inside: epicarp (outer skin), mesocarp (middle fleshy layer) and endocarp (innermost layer, often hard as in the stony part of mango). All three come from the ovary wall.
Usually yes, the fruit forms after fertilisation. But in some plants fruit can form without fertilisation; this is called parthenocarpy and it gives seedless fruits like banana. That is a separate special case from true vs false fruits.
Look at what is labelled as the fleshy or edible part. If it is only the pericarp (ovary wall), it is a true fruit. If the thalamus is shown forming the fleshy part, it is a false fruit.
