FRUIT FRUIT

in botany, the mature ovary ofa plant, composed e entially of two parts, the pericarp and the seed. In a more general sense the term is applied to the edible succulent products of certain plants, generally covering and including their seeds. The hardier sorts of fruits, such as are indigenous to Britain, or which have been cultivated to any important extent there, are the apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and nectarine; the gooseberry, currant (red, white, and black), raspberry, strawberry, mulberry. he more important fruits requiring a warmer climate are the fig, date, grape, orange, lime, banana, tamarind, pomegranate, citron, bread-fruit, olive, almond, melon, and coco-nut. Some fruits are of immense economic importance, either as food for great numbers of people, or as the basis of beverages in extensive use. The date is a type of the first cla , and the grape, from which wine is produced, of the second. The total value of the fruit imported into the United Kingdom in 1913 was over £16,000,000. In 1932 the United Kingdom imported 41,272,056 cwts. of raw fruit valued at £30,142,020; 1,678,195 cwts. of dried fruit valued at £3,396,476; and 3,315,940 cwts. of preserved fruit valued at £6,447,236. See BOTANY. IMG:fig597_1.jpg: