SackLunch.net

The Encyclopedia

Mesocarp

Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection

Mesocarp, the middle tissue of a fruit, consisting typically of the mesophyll (q.v.) of the carpellary leaf or leaves. It is often fleshy and edible, as in the plums, peaches, etc., and it is then sometimes called the sarcocarp (from the Greek sarx, "flesh"); or it may be stringy, as in the almond; or even fibrous, as in the cocoanut. The term can only be employed with morphological accuracy in speaking of such superior fruits as these, and not of inferior fruits, such as the apple. [Fruit.]

Back to M entries · Encyclopedia home