Botany

[Eric Nielsen]

My most-at-hand reference defines a drupe:

"A fleshy, indehiscent fruit with a stony endocarp surrounding a usually
single seed, as in a peach or cherry."  p.32

and a pome:

"A fleshy, indehiscent fruit derived from an inferior, compound ovary,
consisting of a modified floral tube surrounding a core, as in an apple."
p.76

Both quotes are from:

"Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary"
James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris, 1994
Spring Lake Publishing, Payson, UT
0-9640221-5-X


This may be much more illuminating and--to the point:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081124212127AAkXQtL

Yes, I find Apple Pome to be a very strange name, indeed.

Cherries, Peaches, Apples--and of course Roses are all in the same plant
family, Rosaceae, (not the skin disease), and do strongly resemble one
another once you've spent some time with them.

Eric




On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Botany
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am confused. I always thought a drupe was the correct term for
> single-seed non-nut "nuts", like the pistachio, which in some cases have
> swollen stalks that look a lot like apples, as with the cashew.
>
> DanG
>
> On 2/7/2010 3:09 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Bill Palmer<w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Botany
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I stand corrected.  A too hasty glance @ Dictionary.com on a word that I
> > didn't know, but many others apparently do..
> >
> > But that makes the street name even weirder, if an apple isn't classified
> as
> > "drupe", n'est-ce pas?
> >
>

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