What Are Some Examples of Drupes?
Coffee, jujubes, olives, peaches and cherries are all examples of drupes. Drupes are fruits with three layers: the outer skin, the fleshy middle layer and the hard inner layer containing the seed. The word “drupe” comes from the Latin word “drupa,” which means wrinkled olive.
The skin of a drupe makes up its outer layer, which is called the exocarp. Beneath the skin lies the mesocarp, which is the fleshy part of the fruit. Scientists call the pit or stone of a drupe its endocarp. The endocarp contains the fruit’s single seed. Most drupes spread their seeds by traveling in the digestive tracts of animals that eat them. The animal deposits the unharmed seeds of the drupes in its droppings, providing fertilizer when the seeds germinate.
The coconut is an example of a dry drupe, a fruit in which the mesocarp is fibrous instead of fleshy. Some botanists also classify certain species of nuts, such as those produced by members of the walnut family and the hickory tree, as drupes, while others classify these fruits as drupaceous nuts. Other botanists classify these fruits as “tryma,” while others make disctinctions between tryma, drupes and pseudodrupes. Bramble fruits such as raspberries and blackberries are aggregates of several small drupes called drupelets.
