Types of Edible Plant Parts

In botany, a fruit tree is the main stem of a flowering plant that is fully developed after flowering in the winter. Most of them have a single flower ranging in color from white to pink with one or two umbels that open in the front and close in the back. Flowers usually bloom for two years; during these seasons, the fruit matures after four years. The main types of fruit trees are cranberries, pomegranates, plums, acerola, apples and blueberries. The fruit trees differ in the way they grow, where they store water, what part of the year they fruit, and how they process sugar. All fruit trees have bark, leaves, fruits (whereas some fruits are without leaves), bark to contain food, twigs, foliage, wood to provide support, and a thick stem to allow fruit to grow properly.

In botany, there are two main categories of flowers that exist: the floribunds and the cormorants. Floribunds have several distinct blossoms including two different types of flowers (one inflamed and one not inflamed) that open broadly at the top, while cormorants have one large flower generally with two petals. The flowers on the cormorant branch off to the right and the flowers on the moribund branch off to the left.

The ovaries of a fruit tree are the part of a fruit that produces the enzymes necessary to breakdown sugars and produce fruit juices. The ovary can be found in the middle of a fruit’s body, either behind the nipple (in black currants) or at the base (in pomegranates and acerola). The ovary is attached to the underside of a leaf or to the base of a fruit (in plums and acerola). The function of the ovary is to produce the enzymes necessary to break down sugars in order to produce the juice. The ovary is also responsible for storing energy produced by the flowering plant through storing starch.

The presence of an ovary determines whether a plant is a true fruit or a composite material. A true fruit has both an ovary and a seed-bearing fruit pulp. In a composite material the ovary is absent, and the plant is either a fruit with seed or a vegetable with a seed. Many plants that have both ovaries and seeds are classed as fruits.

Some fruits that do not have ovaries are classed as vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are good examples. Carrots and potatoes are not true vegetables, but seeds are present and they are generally small. Tomatoes and mangoes fall into this category, as do many berries. All other fruits, however, are seeds.

There are many different classes of edible plant parts, and nearly every fruit and vegetable have at least two species recognized by the scientific community. This makes the field of tomato fruit research very broad. For example, there are several types of tomatoes that are used in cooking, such as the yellow, sweet and red varieties. However, no one can say for sure how old these varieties actually are. Whether they were eaten by humans or not is unknown.