The part of the plant that carries and protects the seed is the fruit. Fruit can be simply defined as a structure that develops from the fertilized ovary of a flower. Seeds develop from ovules after fertilization.
A fruit consist of a fruit wall or pericarp enclosing one or more seeds. Note that some fruits don’t have seeds such fruits develop from unfertilized ovaries. Examples of such fruit include pineapple and banana.
The pericarp is made up of three layers: An outer epicarp, a middle mesocarp, and an inner endocarp. These layers may be well developed or indistinct. Fruits can be classified in different ways, depending on their origin or structure. The common ways of classifying fruits include true and false fruits, simple, aggregate, and multiple fruits, fleshy and dry fruits, dehiscent and indehiscent fruit.