Temperate and tropical fruits
Fagaceae - Chestnuts
-Castanea dentata - American Chestnut - All fruit-bearing trees have been destroyed by blight. -Japanese Chestnut....C. crenata, which is resistant to blight is being planted in North America
Subfamily Rosoideae - "false" fruits
-Fragaria ananassa - strawberry, New World, resulted from a corss between F. virginiana and F. chiloensis in a European garden. 2. Rubus occidentalis - blackberry - North America native, fruit an aggregate formed from several separate ovaries within a single flower. 3. Rubus idaeus - raspberry - Europe, fruit is same as R. occidentalis
Solanaceae
-Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants
Corylaceae - Hazelnuts
-Corylus avellana - European in origin, also known as filberts or cob nuts; much more widely used in Europe than in U.S
Anacardiaceae (Cashew Family)
-Pistachio -Pistacia vera - Central Asia and Eastern Meditteranean. -Used for Ice cream, cakes and candy goods or fresh consumption. -Fruits are drupes, nut is seed enclosed by endocarp. -Member of same family as poison ivy.
Apple
-Malus domestica, originated in Old World (Western China). Apple is the most important temperate fruit tree crop in the world. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples.
Quince
-Cydonia oblonga; native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region.
Subfamily Prunoideae
-All important fruit-producing taxa are in the genus Prunus. -Prunus domestica - plum, drying yields prunes -Prunus avium - Sweet Cherry -P. cerasus - Sour Cherry -Prunus persica - peaches, nectarines; nectarines are a hairless mutant of peaches -Prunus armeniaca - apricots.
The Rosaceace (the Rose Family)
-. Subfamily Maloideae (apple subfamily) It has three important genera Malus (apple ) genus; Pyrus (pear ) genus. Cydonia (quince) genus. -Apples are the most important economically, pears are next; quince is used mostly in preserves as it is very tart.
Curcurbits (Old world)
-Citrullus lanatus- watermelon, from Africa -Cucumis melo - cantaloupe, musk and honeydew melons, probably from Africa - Cucumis sativus - cucumber, from S. Asia -Lagenaria siceraria - bottle gourd, cultivated in S. America 7000 ybp and in Egypt 3000 ybp, used as water vessels.
Coconuts
-Cocos nucifera -very imporant plant in tropics, used for oil, fiber, food and drink. -Origin is controversial since coconuts can be dispersed by ocean currents. Coconuts are monecious, mature fruit contains one seed which is the largest one known.
Juglandaceae - Walnuts and Pecans Family
-Juglans regia - English walnut - Native to southeastern Europe and Asia. -walnut of commerce. -Its production is centered in California. -Juglans nigra - Black walnut - Native to North America. - not used to any large degree because it has strong taste and an exceedingly hard shell. -Used mainly in Ice cream and candy
Citrus cont.
-Lemon - Citrus lemon - used for flavoring, deodorants -Bitter orange - C. aurantium - preserves, marmalade, liquers -Citron - C. medica - peel is candied and put in fruitcakes -Lime - C. aurantriifolia - juice used to prevent scurvy, Limeys -Grapefruits - C. paradisi - possibly a cross between pumello (C. maxima) and C. sinensis, probably in W. Indies. Pink grapefruits arose as a bud mutation. -Tangerine - C. reticulata - probably a biological species and not a hybrid.
Oleaceae - Olives
-Olea europaea - native to the Meditteranean Fruit is a drupe, mostly used for oil and eating , untreated olives are very bitter. -Olive is the most extensively cultivated fruit crop in the world. Its cultivation areas has tripled in the past 44 years, passing from 2.6 to 8.5 million of hectares.
Date palm
-Phoenix dactylifera found in arid regions around Meditteranean, domesticated for 6500 years. Dates contain large amounts of carbohydrates, "Tree of life" to Bedouins.
Pineapple and Banana
-Pineapple - Ananas comosus - New World, pineapple is a multiple fruit formed by 100-200 fused ovaries. -Bananas - genus Musa - native to E. Asia and Australia. Adult plants are giant herbs. Main obstacle to commercial development of bananas was control of spoilage, which was done around 1930.
Pear
-Pyrus communis (European Pear) -Pyrus pyriflora (Asian Pear) -Pyrus x bretschneideri (The Chinese White Pear) -Old World origin, from western Europe and north Africa east right across Asia, Introduced in North America by English or Spanish.
Cucurbits (New world)
-Squash - Cucurbita, taxonomy is very confused but there are apparently 4 cultivated species, 3 of which are commonly found in the supermarket. -Cucurbita pepo - pumpkins, zucchini, summer squashes - C. moschata - winter squashes -C. maxima - hubbard, butternut, turban squashes
Oranges (citrus)
-Sweet orange - Citrus sinensis - most widely grown, possibly of hybrid origin, 3 main types: 1-Blood - bands of red, more popular in Europe. 2-Normals - Valencia orange variety, most popular, grown in Florida, juice orange. 3-Navels - fairly recent, name refers to small ovary on top of regular ovary. They are sterile so don't produce seeds to must be grafted, primarily for eating.
Citrus
-Trees with evergreen leaves, cultivated plants originated in SE Asia. -The skin has cavities filled with aromatic oils. The edible part (endocarp) contains hairs modified into juice sacs
Vitaceae - Grapes
-Vitis vinifera - perennial native to the Mediterranean, used for wines and table grapes. Vitis labrusca - fox grape, from Northeastern U.S., concord and catawba grapes, important for grape juice and jams -Fruit is a berry, raisins are dried grapes
What is a fruit?
-a fruit is a mature or ripened ovary to include its contents and any adhering accessory structures. This encompasses virtually everything laymen refer to as fruits and nuts and also a number of so-called vegetables such as tomatoes (berry), squash, cucumber, and eggplant and grains such as corn and wheat. -In the commercial sense): those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy.
Carya illinoinensis -Pecan
-native to Mexico and American Southwest; Breeding has developed thin shells "paper shells".
