Caryopsis
In
The caryopsis is popularly called a grain and is the fruit typical of the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), which includes wheat, rice, and corn.[2]
The term grain is also used in a more general sense as synonymous with cereal (as in "cereal grains", which include some non-Poaceae). Considering that the fruit wall and the seed are intimately fused into a single unit, and the caryopsis or grain is a dry fruit, little concern is given to technically separating the terms fruit and seed in these plant structures. In many grains, the "hulls" to be separated before processing are flower bracts.
Etymology
The name caryopsis is derived from the Greek words karyon and -opsis (κάρυον and ὄψις), meaning 'nut' and 'having the appearance of', respectively. The term was first used by Achille Richard to refer to the dry, monospermic, indehiscent fruit commonly found in grasses.[3]
This definition of fruit for the Gramineae family has persisted to the modern day, but some botanists have challenged the idea that the dry caryopsis is a defining characteristic of the family. The other forms of fruit proposed to be borne by grasses include
References
- ^ "Caryopsis". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ "caryopsis". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- OCLC 15141724.
- ^ a b Jacques-Félix, Henri (1962). "Les graminées (Poaceae) d'Afrique tropicale. 1. Généralités, classification, description des genres". Bulletin scientifique (8). IRAT.
- ^ Stapf, Otto (1904). "On the Fruit of Melocanna bambusoides, Trin., an Endospermless, Viviparous Genus of Bambuseae". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 6 (9). Oxford University Press: 401–425.
- ^ Bews, John William (1929). The world's grasses: their differentiation, distribution economics and ecology. Longmans, Green and Co.
- ^ Tsvelev, N.N. (1976). "Zlaki SSSR" [Cereals of the USSR]. Science, Leningrad.
- ^ Brandenburg, D.M. (1985). A Survey of Modified Caryopses in the Gramineae. Vol. 72. American Journal of Botany. p. 943.