Complete your examination of seeds by observing these same structures in the Ricinus and Zea slides. Use the condensed key hand-out and be sure you see how the fruits are placed into different categories. Begin with the fleshy fruits. These can be simple or accessory fruits, ie., developed from only ovary tissue or from ovary plus other floral parts. All fleshy fruits are soft at maturity.
Berries are one of the largest groups of fleshy fruits and have highly elaborated pericarps.
The pepo is a type of berry with a thin, skin-like ectocarp or rind that does not separate from the mesocarp. The pepo samples are a squasah, cucumber, cantelope and kiwi. Another type of berry is the Hesperidium. Now the ectocarp is leathery and separates easily from the mesocarp. For samples, we have grapefruits, tangerines, a lemon, a lime and bananas.