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Why are peaches, plums, cherries, olives, almonds, and coconuts classified as drupes?
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Fruit
Ripening apricots on a tree. Apricots are single-seeded drupes.
Peaches, plums, cherries, olives, almonds, and coconuts are classified as drupes because they are simple, fleshy fruits derived from a single ovary that typically contain a single seed enclosed within a hard, stony inner layer known as the endocarp or pit.12
The structure of a drupe consists of three distinct layers of the pericarp:
- Exocarp: The thin outer skin or peel.13
- Mesocarp: The middle layer, which is usually fleshy (as in peaches and cherries), tough (as in almonds), or fibrous (as in coconuts).12
- Endocarp: The hard, stony inner layer (the pit) that protects the seed.12
While these fruits vary in their external appearance and the texture of their mesocarp, they all share this fundamental anatomical organization, distinguishing them from other fruit types like berries or pomes.123