Cupule

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Cupule

The calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit

Accessory fruit

An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
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 in the family Fagaceae

Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts....
. These two parts derive from different flower components.

The cupule holds and protects the seed

Seed

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Encyclopedia

The calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit

Accessory fruit

Flowering plant

Fagaceae

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....
during its growth and maturation. In some genera (e.g. Lithocarpus
Lithocarpus

Lithocarpus is a genus in the beech family Fagaceae, differing from Oak in the erect male spikes. The Kew Checklist accepts 334 species, though some other texts suggest as low as 100 species....
, Quercus
Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
), it only partly encloses the single nut, while in others (e.g. Castanea
Chestnut

Chestnut , is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate climate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
, Fagus
Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe and North America.The leaf of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad....
), it fully encloses the two or more nuts, and splits open at maturity into four valves to release the nuts. It is derived from the vegetative part of the flower (its attachment to the rest of the plant).

The cupule is covered by numerous scales. In some (e.g. Castanea), the scales are developed into sharp spines, giving the nut protection from squirrel

Squirrel

File:Eichh?rnchen D?sseldorf Hofgarten edit.jpgA squirrel is one of many small or medium-sized rodents in the family Sciuridae. In the English language-speaking world, squirrel commonly refers to members of this family's genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus, which are tree squirrels with large bushy tails, indigenous to Asia, the America...
s and other seed predators, while in others (e.g. most Quercus), they are not. In Lithocarpus, the cupule is very hard and bone-like in texture.

The calybium (plural: calybia) is the fruit proper. It develops from an inferior ovary, meaning it is initially encased in the future cupule. Technically the calybium is a nut

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 its ovary wall becomes dry with the embryo loosely enclosed inside, and remaining closed until germination

Germination

Germination is the process whereby growth emerges from a period of dormancy. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant or gymnosperm....
.

Involucre

The involucre corresponds to the cupule; it is found in the related family Betulaceae

Betulaceae

Betulaceae, or the Birch Family, includes six genera of deciduous nut -bearing trees and shrubs, including the birches, alders, hazels, hornbeams and hop-hornbeams, numbering about 130 species....
, notably in the genera Carpinus
Hornbeam

Plants in the genus Carpinus are commonly called Hornbeams. They are relatively small hardwood trees. Many botanists place the hornbeams in the birch family Betulaceae, though some group them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae....
and Corylus
Hazel

The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.Hazel plants prefer a nice warm, mild,moist climate nothing more nothing less....
. It differs in being more leafy in appearance, but performs a similar role in protecting the developing nuts. The term involucre is also used for a highly conspicuous bract

Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf. Bracts are ordinarily associated with reproductive structures . They are ordinarily reduced in size relative to foliage leaves, or of a different color or texture from foliage leaves, or both....
, bract pair or ring of bracts at the base of an inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
.