Mesocarp

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.]