View source for Drupe

{{short description|Fleshy fruit with hard inner layer (endocarp or stone) surrounding the seed}}
[[File:Drupe fruit diagram.svg|250px|thumb|Diagram of a typical drupe ([[peach]]), showing both [[fruit]] and [[seed]]]]
[[File:Nectarine Fruit Development.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The development sequence of a typical drupe, a smooth-skinned ([[Peach#Nectarines|nectarine]]) type of peach (''Prunus persica'') over a {{frac|7|1|2}}-month period, from bud formation in early winter to fruit ripening in midsummer]]

In [[botany]], a '''drupe''' (or '''stone fruit''') is a type of [[fruit]] in which an outer fleshy part ([[exocarp]], or skin, and [[mesocarp]], or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''[[pyrena]]'') of hardened [[endocarp]] with a [[seed]] (''kernel'') inside. Drupes do not split open to release the seed, i.e., they are [[dehiscence (botany)|indehiscent]].<ref name="Stern">{{cite book |title=Introductory Plant Biology |url=https://archive.org/details/introductoryplan00ster |url-access=registration |edition=Seventh |first=Kingsley R. |last=Stern |location=Dubuque |publisher=Wm. C. Brown |year=1997 |isbn=0-07-114448-X }}</ref>  These fruits usually develop from a single [[carpel]], and mostly from flowers with [[Superior ovary|superior ovaries]]<ref name="Stern" /> ([[polypyrenous drupe]]s are exceptions). 

The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, woody ([[lignified]]) stone is derived from the [[Ovary (botany)|ovary]] wall of the [[flower]]. In an [[aggregate fruit]], which is composed of small, individual drupes (such as a [[raspberry]]), each individual is termed a '''drupelet''', and may together form an aggregate fruit.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ultimate Family Visual Dictionary |publisher=[[DK Pub.]] |year=2012|isbn=978-0-1434-1954-9|location=New Delhi |pages=148–149|chapter=Plants|language=en}}</ref> Such fruits are often termed ''[[berries]]'', although botanists use a [[Berry (botany)|different definition of ''berry'']]. Other [[fleshy fruits]] may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes.

[[Flowering plant]]s that produce drupes include [[coffea arabica|coffee]], [[jujube]], [[mango]], [[olive]], most palms (including [[açaí]], [[Date Palm|date]], [[sabal]] and [[oil palm]]s), [[pistachio]], [[white sapote]], [[cashew]], and all members of the genus ''[[Prunus]]'', including the [[almond]], [[apricot]], [[cherry]], [[damson]], [[peach]], [[nectarine]], and [[plum]].

The term '''drupaceous''' is applied to a fruit having the structure and texture of a drupe, but which does not precisely fit the definition of a drupe.<ref>{{cite web |title=drupaceous adjective |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drupaceous |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=20 April 2025}}</ref>

== Description ==

The boundary between a drupe and a berry is not always clear. Thus, some sources describe the fruit of species from the genus ''[[Persea]]'', which includes the [[avocado]], as a drupe;<ref name="FNA">{{cite book |first1=B. Eugene |last1=Wofford |contribution=Persea |contribution-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=124627 |access-date=2017-03-29 |editor-last=Flora of North America Editorial Committee |title=Flora of North America |publisher=eFloras.org }}</ref> others describe the avocado as a berry.<ref name=Arms08/> One definition of berry requires the endocarp to be less than {{Convert|2|mm|abbr=on|frac=32}} thick, other fruits with a stony endocarp being drupes. In marginal cases, terms such as ''drupaceous'' or ''drupe-like'' are sometimes used.<ref name="Been10">{{cite book |last=Beentje |first=Henk |title=The Kew Plant Glossary |publisher=[[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84246-422-9 |location=Richmond, Surrey}}</ref>

{{anchor|freestone}}A '''freestone''' is a drupe with a stone that can easily be removed from the flesh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Free stone |url=https://treeterms.co.uk/free-stone/ |website=A companion to British arboriculture |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref> {{anchor|clingstone}}A '''clingstone''' is a drupe with a stone which cannot easily be removed from the flesh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cling stone |url=https://treeterms.co.uk/cling-stone/ |website=A companion to British arboriculture |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref> A '''tryma''' is a nut-like drupe. Hickory nuts ([[Carya (genus)|''Carya'']]) and [[walnut]]s (''[[Juglans]]'') in the [[Juglandaceae]] family grow within an outer husk; these fruits are technically drupes or drupaceous nuts, not true botanical [[Nut (fruit)|nuts]].<ref name=Arms08>{{Cite web |title=Identification of Major Fruit Types |first=W. P. |last=Armstrong |date=2008 |url=http://www.waynesword.net/fruitid1.htm |access-date=2023-01-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fruits Called Nuts |date=2009 |first=W. P. |last=Armstrong  |url=http://www.waynesword.net/ecoph8.htm |access-date=2023-01-16}}</ref>

Many drupes, with their sweet, fleshy outer layer, attract the attention of animals as food, and the plant benefits from the resulting [[seed dispersal|dispersal of its seeds]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Meyer |first=Deborah J. Lionakis |title=Seed Development and Structure in Floral Crops |url=https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/20053005271 |publisher=CABI |access-date=28 May 2025 |page=132 |quote=In a drupe, the pericarp is divided into three layers: a leathery exocarp, a fleshy mesocarp and a hard endocarp. The endocarp usually surrounds the seed after the fleshy part of the fruit disintegrates (e.g. O. europaea and Prunus L.).}}</ref>

== Examples ==

Typical drupes include [[Apricot|apricots]], [[Olive|olives]], [[loquat]], [[Peach|peaches]], [[Plum|plums]], [[Cherry|cherries]], [[Mango|mangoes]], [[Pecan|pecans]], and [[Phyllanthus emblica|amlas]] (Indian gooseberries). <!-- (See the images below.) -->Other examples include sloe (''[[Prunus spinosa]]'') and ivy (''[[Hedera helix]]'').<ref>Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. ''Excursion Flora of the British Isles''. Cambridge University Press{{ISBN|0-521-04656-4}}</ref>

The [[coconut]] is a drupe, its [[mesocarp]] a dry or fibrous ''husk'', its endocarp a hard shell.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 2014 |title=Coconut botany |url=http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/horti_pcrops_coconut_botany.html |access-date=14 December 2017 |website=Agritech Portal |publisher=[[Tamil Nadu Agricultural University]]}}</ref> 

[[Bramble]] fruits such as the [[blackberry]] and the [[raspberry]] are aggregates of drupelets. <!-- rest of paragraph translated from French Wikipedia [[fr:drupe]] --> The fruit of blackberries and raspberries comes from a single flower whose [[pistil]] is made up of a number of free carpels.<ref name="woodlands">{{Cite web |title=Bramble or blackberry: Woodlands.co.uk |url=http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-flowers/pinkpurple-flowers/bramble-or-blackberry/ |access-date=2016-02-15 |website=www.woodlands.co.uk |archive-date=2016-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914051950/http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-flowers/pinkpurple-flowers/bramble-or-blackberry/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, [[mulberry|mulberries]], which closely resemble blackberries, are not aggregates but [[multiple fruit]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mulberry tree identification |url=https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/mulberries/ |website=Tree Guide |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref>

Some drupes occur in clusters, as in palms. Examples include [[Date palm|dates]], ''[[Jubaea chilensis]]''<ref>C. Michael Hogan. 2008. [http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82831 ''Chilean Wine Palm: Jubaea chilensis'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017013207/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82831 |date=October 17, 2012 }}</ref> in central Chile and ''[[Washingtonia filifera]]'' in the [[Sonoran Desert]] of North America.<ref>{{cite web |title=Washingtonia filifera |url=https://www.telcs.com/post/washingtonia-filifera |website=TELCS |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref>

Many [[gymnosperm]]s like [[cycad]]s, [[ginkgo]]s and some [[cypress]]es have drupe-like "fruits".<ref>{{cite journal |first1=D.L. |last1=Contreras |first2=I.A.P. |last2=Duijnstee |first3=S. |last3=Ranks |first4=C.R. |last4=Marshall |first5=C.V. |last5=Looy |date=February 2017 |title=Evolution of dispersal strategies in conifers: Functional divergence and convergence in the morphology of diaspores |journal=Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics |volume=24 |pages=93–117 |doi=10.1016/j.ppees.2016.11.002|doi-access=free |bibcode=2017PPEES..24...93C }}</ref>

== Gallery ==

<gallery class="center" mode="nolines" widths="180" heights="180">
File:NIEdot325.jpg|Assorted drupes
File:Autumn Red peaches.jpg|The [[peach]] is a typical drupe (stone fruit).
File:Prunus - Elena.JPG|'Elena', a freestone [[prune plum]]
File:Nectarine_stone.jpg|The pit of a [[nectarine]]
File:Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) fruits.jpg|Unripe drupes of [[black pepper]]
File:Black Butte blackberry.jpg|'Black Butte' blackberry, a bramble fruit of aggregated drupelets
File:arecanut.jpg|A ripe [[areca nut]]
File:Ginkgo biloba 007.jpg|[[Ginkgo]] "fruits", often noted as drupe-like
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Pome]] (polypyrenous drupe)

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==

{{Wiktionary|freestone|clingstone}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20201223072054/https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/fruitid1.htm Identification of Major Fruit Types] (archived)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200315011337/https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/ecoph8.htm Fruits Called Nuts] (archived)
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Drupe |year=1905 |short=x}}

{{fruits}}
{{Nuts}}

[[Category:Drupes| ]]
[[Category:Edible nuts and seeds]]
[[Category:Fruit morphology]]