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Capsule (fruit)

 
Capsule (fruit)

 
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Capsule (fruit)
 
 
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In botany
Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
 a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 produced by many species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s. A capsule is a dehiscent structure composed of two or more carpels, that, at maturity, split apart (dehisce) to release the seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s within. In some capsules, the split occurs between carpels, and in others each carpel splits open.






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Spathoglottis Flwrs
In botany
Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
 a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 produced by many species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s. A capsule is a dehiscent structure composed of two or more carpels, that, at maturity, split apart (dehisce) to release the seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s within. In some capsules, the split occurs between carpels, and in others each carpel splits open. In yet others, seeds are released through openings or pores that form in the capsule. In the Brazil nut
Brazil Nut

The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.The Brazil nut tree is the only species in the monotypic genus Bertholletia....
, a lid on the capsule opens, but is too small to release the dozen or so seeds (the actual "Brazil nut" of commerce) within. These germinate inside the capsule after it falls to the ground.

Capsules are sometimes mislabeled as nuts
Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
, as in the example of the Brazil nut
Brazil Nut

The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.The Brazil nut tree is the only species in the monotypic genus Bertholletia....
 or the Horse-chestnut
Aesculus

The genus Aesculus, the buckeyes and Horse Chestnuts, comprises 13-19 species of woody trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 6 species native to North America and 7-13 species native to Eurasia; there are also several Hybrid ....
. A capsule is not a nut because it releases its seeds and it splits apart. Nuts on the other hand do not release seeds as they are a compound ovary
Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
 containing both a single seed and the fruit. Nuts also do not split.

Examples of plants that produce capsules are nigella
Nigella

Nigella is a genus of about 14 species of annual plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to southern Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia....
, poppy
Poppy

A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically withone per Plant stem, belonging to the Papaveraceae. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens....
, lily, orchid, willow
Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
, cotton
Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
, and jimson weed.