In botany, a follicle is a dry unilocular fruit formed from one carpel, containing two or more seeds.[1] It is usually defined as dehiscing by a suture in order to release seeds,[2] for example in Consolida (some of the larkspurs), peony and milkweed (Asclepias).
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Milkweed-in-seed2.jpg/120px-Milkweed-in-seed2.jpg)
Some difficult cases exist however, so that the term indehiscent follicle is sometimes used, for example with the genus Filipendula, which has indehiscent fruits that could be considered intermediate between a (dehiscent) follicle and an (indehiscent) achene.[3]
An aggregate fruit that consists of follicles may be called a follicetum. Examples include hellebore, aconite, Delphinium, Aquilegia or the family Crassulaceae, where several follicles occur in a whorl on a shortened receptacle, or Magnolia, which has many follicles arranged in a spiral on an elongated receptacle.[2]
The follicles of some species dehisce by the ventral suture (as in Banksia),[4] or by the dorsal suture (as in Magnolia).[5]
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Follicles from Helleborus foetidus
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Only some flowers in a Banksia inflorescence mature into follicles embedded in the "cone"
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Follicles of Stenocarpus sinuatus will release papery brown seeds
References
edit- ^ Hickey, M.; King, C. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b Rendle, Alfred Barton (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 257.
- ^ "Flora of China online".
- ^ Renshaw, A.; Burgin, S. (2008). "Enantiomorphy in Banksia (Proteaceae): flowers and fruits". Australian Journal of Botany. 56 (4): 342–346. doi:10.1071/BT07073.
- ^ Kapil, R. N. and N. N. Bhandari (1964) Morphology and embryology of Magnolia Archived 1 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Proc. nat. Inst. Sci. India 30, 245–262.
External links
edit- Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. .