Pome
A fleshy fruit in which much of the edible tissue develops from floral tissue surrounding the ovary. Apples and pears are familiar examples.
Fruit: In flowering plants, a mature ovary, sometimes together with surrounding tissues, that contains seeds. A pome is one specialized kind of fruit.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen to a flower’s stigma, enabling fertilization in flowering plants. Pollination commonly starts the reproductive sequence leading to pome development.
Apple: The edible fruit of Malus domestica, a widely cultivated tree in the rose family. Its fleshy cortex develops largely from floral tissue surrounding the ovary.
Drupe: A fleshy fruit with a hard, stony endocarp surrounding its seed or seeds. Unlike a pome, a drupe’s inner fruit wall forms a conspicuous stone.
Malus domestica: The domesticated apple species cultivated worldwide for its edible fruit. Its cultivars illustrate how breeding diversifies a major pome crop.
Ovary (botany): The part of a flower’s pistil that contains ovules and may develop into fruit after fertilization. The pome’s core develops from this seed-bearing floral structure.
Double fertilization: The angiosperm process in which sperm cells fertilize both an egg and the central cell of an ovule. It produces the embryo and nutritive endosperm associated with seeds inside the fruit.
Pear: The edible fruit of trees and shrubs in the genus Pyrus. Like an apple, a pear is a classic pome with a central ovary and fleshy accessory tissue.
Berry: A fleshy fruit that usually develops from one ovary and has seeds embedded in its pulp. A berry’s flesh is chiefly ovary-derived, unlike the accessory flesh of a pome.
Pear cultivation: The agricultural production of edible pears from cultivated Pyrus trees. Cultivation practices manage flowering, fruit set, and harvest in a pome crop.