noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; Lower part of a perianth containing the fruit, the upper part having dropped away, well seen in plants of the family Nyctaginaceae.
2. 2
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; In the Nyctaginaceae, individual apetalous flowers have a tubular, petaloid calyx that resembles a sympetalous corolla. The lower portion of the calyx tightly enwraps the one-seeded achene and is persistent around the fruit as an anthocarp. The calyx base plus the enclosed seed-bearing achene is the unit of dispersal.
3. 3
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; A collective, composite or aggregated fruit formed from an entire inflorescence, as in the sorosis of a pineapple or the syconus of a fig.
4. 4
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; A fruit resulting from many flowers, such as the pineapple; a fruit of which the perianth or the torus forms part.
5. 5
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; A composite false fruit, consisting of the actual fruit and the perianth.

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6. 6
   Any of various forms of fruits in which part of the perianth tissue remains attached to the fruit, as part of the mechanism of dispersal.; A fruit formed by the union of the floral organs or part of them, with the fruit itself, as in Nyctagineae; also applied to fruits with accessories, sometimes termed pseudocarps, as the strawberry and pineapple.

Etymology

From antho- + -carp.

Related phrases

accessory fruit

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.