accessory fruit A fruit, such as the pear or strawberry, that develops from a ripened ovary or ovaries but also has tissue derived from part of the plant outside the ovary. In pears and other pomes, the edible flesh is a swollen part of the stem, and the fruit is the seed-bearing core. In the strawberry, the receptacle is fleshy, and the fruits are achenes embedded in its surface. Also called false fruit, pseudocarp. Compare aggregate fruit, multiple fruit, simple fruit. |