drupe

/droohp/, n. Bot.

any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.

[1745-55; < L drupa, druppa overripe olive < Gk drýppa olive]

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Fruit in which the outer layer is a thin skin, the middle layer is thick and usually fleshy (though sometimes tough, as in the almond, or fibrous, as in the coconut), and the inner layer (the pit) is hard and stony.

Within the pit is usually one seed. In aggregate fruits such as the raspberry and blackberry (which are not true berries), many small drupes are clumped together. Other representative drupes are the cherry, peach, mango, olive, and walnut.

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▪ plant anatomy

      fruit in which the outer layer of the ovary wall is a thin skin, the middle layer is thick and usually fleshy (though sometimes tough, as in the almond, or fibrous, as in the coconut), and the inner layer, known as the pit, or putamen, is hard and stony. Within the pit is usually one seed, or, rarely, two or three, in which case only one develops fully. In aggregate fruits such as the raspberry and blackberry—which are not true berries—many small drupes are clumped together. Other representative drupes are the cherry, peach, mango, olive, walnut, and dogwood.

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