[Po-dev] Fwd: Terminology of Apple Fruit Tissues

[Chih-Wei Tung]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Martin C. Goffinet" <mcg2 at nysaes.cornell.edu>
> Date: September 19, 2007 9:30:49 AM EDT
> To: peter.stevens at mobot.org
> Cc: skb3 at nysaes.cornell.edu, cwt6 at cornell.edu
> Subject: Re: Terminology of Apple Fruit Tissues
>
> To Peter Stevens,
>
> As a rejoiner to your comments at the bottom, I offer up the  
> following comments.  Several botanical dictionaries define cortex  
> as the tissue between the main vascular bundles and the epidermis,  
> whether of the primary construction of a stem, a root, or apple  
> fruit.  Because, in the apple, the cortex is only one of the two  
> main flesh regions (the other being "pith"), one cannot say that  
> the cortex is synonymous with "flesh," but that cortex is a major  
> component of the flesh.  Pericarp is defined as the wall of a  
> fructified ovary -- pretty generic and topographic, as I interpret  
> it.  If pericarp is topographic, then so are the regions defined as  
> composing the pericarp of apple, i.e., endocarp, mesocarp, and  
> exocarp.  These three regions differ vastly among the angiosperms  
> as to what each includes as tissue, thus no specific organogenetic  
> pattern or homology of organs or tissues can be universally defined  
> under those three terms.  I know of no text that applies the term  
> exocarp as the sole definition of the fruit.  Rather, exocarp is  
> universally recognized by botanists as the outer region of the  
> fruit, usually including the epidermis and subjacent hypodermal  
> cell layers.  In the case of apple, the exocarp and skin can be  
> thought of as one and the same, bearing in mind that the skin is  
> composed of very specific cells in apple fruit: waxy cuticle,  
> epidermal cell layer, and a hypodermal layer of several cells.
>
> I don't know if this helps clarify the debate, but if not, please  
> email again.
>
> Martin Goffinet
> ----------------
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: Peter Stevens <peter.stevens at mobot.org>
>>> Date: September 7, 2007 1:18:19 PM EDT
>>> To: Chih-Wei Tung <cwt6 at cornell.edu>
>>> Subject: Re: [Po-dev] Fwd: Terminology of Apple Fruit Tissues
>>>
>>> OK, I followed you until this paragraph:
>>>
>>> So, the fruit "cortex" is NOT the same as  "flesh" or "mesocarp,"  
>>> but is a region that makes up the flesh.  Pericarp, mesocarp,  
>>> endocarp, and exocarp are simple topographic, descriptive terms  
>>> that reference the tissue by its position within the fruit.   
>>> Cortex thus is a component of the mesocarp, while the skin is  
>>> described as the exocarp by some authors.
>>>
>>> If the apple fruit is the product of an inferior ovary, whatever  
>>> the mechanism by which the ovary became inferior (i.e. axial or  
>>> appendicular), the skin is surely not  the exocarp, which is a  
>>> term applied to the fruit proper, and similarly the apple cortex  
>>> is not a component of the mesocarp (if anything, it would be the  
>>> other way around), and the meso- exo- and endocarps are a tad  
>>> more than descriptive terms (what terms are not?), but refer  
>>> specifically to fruits proper, i.e. a carpel/s at the time of  
>>> dispersal of the seed.
>>>
>>> P.
>
> -- 
> Martin C. Goffinet, Ph.D.                         Ph: 315-787-2392
> Cornell University                        Fax: 315-787-2216
> Department of Horticultural Sciences              Web: http:// 
> www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/goffinet/
> New York State Agricultural Experiment Station
> 630 W. North Street
> Geneva, NY 14456
>

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