Stone fruit

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peach and peach pits

A stone fruit, also called a drupe, is a fruit with a large "stone" inside. The stone is sometimes called the seed, but that is a mistake, as the seed is inside the stone. The stones can also be called a pit. These fruits are edible and used frequently in cooking.

Identification[change | change source]

What makes a fruit?[change | change source]

A fruit is the matured ovary of a flower. Fruits consist of two main parts: the pericarp, or ovary wall, and the seed(s).

The pericarp has three layers: the exocarp (skin/rind), the mesocarp (bulk of the pericarp), and the endocarp (innermost layer).

Berries vs. drupes[change | change source]

The two main classes of fleshy fruits are berries and drupes, or stone fruits.

Berries have a fleshy mesocarp and endocarp, and may have multiple seeds.

Drupes have a fleshy mesocarp, but a tough endocarp, and of course, a "stone" or "pit" at its center. Drupes typically have only a single seed.

Examples of stone fruits[change | change source]

Stone Fruits
Scientific name Description What's the pit? In pop culture
Apricots Prunus armeniaca
  • St. Ives' Apricot Scrub
  • Stardew Valley
Apriums apricot/plum hybrid
Blackberries Rubus
  • BlackBerry
  • Blackberry (Watership Down), a fictional rabbit
  • Blackberri, American singer-songwriter and community activist
  • Wren Blackberry, children's fiction author
  • "Blackberry" (song), by the Black Crowes
  • "Blackberry Way", by The Move
  • "Blackberry Blossom" (tune), a traditional fiddle tune
Cherries
Coconuts
Dates
Green almonds the fruit of an almond tree, containing the pit or "nut" commonly referred to as an almond
  • almond butter
Lychees
Mangoes Mangifera indica
  • The House on Mango Street
  • the mango emoji
Marionberries a cultivar of blackberries
  • Marionberry pancakes in Portlandia
Mulberries Morus
  • Mulberry Tree, a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
  • A Babylonian etiological myth, explored by Ovid in Metamorphoses, attributes the red color of mulberries to the deaths of Pyramus and Thisbe, a pair of ill-fated lovers
Nectarines Prunus persica var. nucipersica
Olives Olea europaea
Peaches Prunus persica Peach pit
Plums prunus domestica
Pluots plum/apricot hybrid
Salmonberry rubus spectabilis