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Friday, September 4, 2015

The pear

The pear is any of several tree and shrub species of genus Pyrus /ˈprəs/, in the family Rosaceae.
It is also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued for their edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamental trees.

Etymology

The English word “pear” is probably from Common West Germanic pera, probably a loanword of Vulgar Latin pira, the plural of pirum, akin to Greek ἄπιος apios (from Mycenaean ápisos),[2] which is of Semitic origin (Aramaic/Syriac "pirâ", meaning "fruit", from the verb "pra", meaning "to beget, multiply, bear fruit"). The place name Perry can indicate the historical presence of pear trees. The term "pyriform" is sometimes used to describe something which is pear-shaped.

Description


Pear blossoms
The pear is native to coastal and mildly temperate regions of the Old World, from western Europe and north Africa east right across Asia. It is a medium-sized tree, reaching 10–17 metres (33–56 ft) tall, often with a tall, narrow crown; a few species areshrubby.
The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, 2–12 centimetres (0.79–4.72 in) long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others; leaf shape varies from broad oval to narrow lanceolate. Most pears are deciduous, but one or two species in southeast Asia are evergreen. Most are cold-hardy, withstanding temperatures between −25 °C (−13 °F) and −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter, except for the evergreen species, which only tolerate temperatures down to about −15 °C (5 °F).
The flowers are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, 2–4 centimetres (0.79–1.57 in) diameter, and have five petals.[3] Like that of the related apple, the pear fruit is a pome, in most wild species 1–4 centimetres (0.39–1.57 in) diameter, but in some cultivated forms up to 18 centimetres (7.1 in) long and 8 centimetres (3.1 in) broad; the shape varies in most species from oblate or globose, to the classic pyriform 'pear-shape' of the European pear with an elongated basal portion and a bulbous end.
The fruit is composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower-stalk (the so-called calyx tube) greatly dilated. Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the true fruit: five cartilaginous carpels, known colloquially as the "core". From the upper rim of the receptacle are given off the five sepals[vague], the five petals, and the very numerous stamens.
Pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit; some pears look very much like some apples, e.g. the nashi pear. One major difference is that the flesh of pear fruit contains stone cells (also called "grit").

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The orange

The orange (specifically, the sweet orange) is the fruit of the citrus species Citrus × sinensis in thefamily Rutaceae.[2]
The fruit of the Citrus × sinensis is considered a sweet orange, whereas the fruit of the Citrus × aurantium is considered a bitter orange. The sweet orange reproduces asexually (apomixis throughnucellar embryony); varieties of sweet orange arise through mutations.[3]
The orange is a hybrid, between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and mandarin (Citrus reticulata). It has genes that are ~25% pomelo and ~75% mandarin;[3][4] however, it is not a simple backcrossed BC1 hybrid, but hybridized over multiple generations.[5] The chloroplast genes, and therefore the maternal line, seem to be pomelo.[3] The sweet orange has had its full genome sequenced.[3] Earlier estimates of the percentage of pomelo genes varying from ~50% to 6% have been reported.[4]

Oranges in Florida
Sweet oranges were mentioned in Chinese literature in 314 BC.[3] As of 1987, orange trees were found to be the most cultivated fruit tree in the world.[6] Orange trees are widely grown in tropical and subtropical climates for their sweet fruit. The fruit of the orange tree can be eaten fresh, or processed for its juice or fragrant peel.[7] As of 2012, sweet oranges accounted for approximately 70% of citrus production.[8]
In 2013, 71.4 million metric tons of oranges were grown worldwide, production being highest in Braziland the U.S. states of Florida and California.[9]

Botanical information and terminology

Main article: Citrus taxonomy

Orange blossoms and oranges on tree
All citrus trees belong to the single genus Citrus and remain almost entirely interfertile. This means that there is only one superspecies that includes grapefruitslemonslimes, oranges, and various other types and hybrids.[10] As the interfertility of oranges and other citrus has produced numerous hybrids, bud unions, and cultivars, their taxonomy is fairly controversial, confusing or inconsistent.[8][11] The fruit of any citrus tree is considered a hesperidium (a kind of modified berry) because it has numerousseeds, is fleshy and soft, derives from a single ovary and is covered by a rind originated by a rugged thickening of the ovary wall.[12][13]

Slices of a Navel orange
Different names have been given to the many varieties of the genus. Orange applies primarily to the sweet orange – Citrus sinensis (L.Osbeck. The orange tree is an evergreenflowering tree, with an average height of 9 to 10 m (30 to 33 ft), although some very old specimens can reach 15 m (49 ft).[14]Its oval leavesalternately arranged, are 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) long and have crenulate margins.[15]Although the sweet orange presents different sizes and shapes varying from spherical to oblong, it generally has ten segments (carpels) inside, and contains up to six seeds (or pips)[16] and a porous white tissue – called pith or, more properly, mesocarp or albedo—lines its rind.[17] When unripe, the fruit is green. The grainy irregular rind of the ripe fruit can range from bright orange to yellow-orange, but frequently retains green patches or, under warm climate conditions, remains entirely green. Like all other citrus fruits, the sweet orange is non-climacteric. The Citrus sinensis is subdivided into four classes with distinct characteristics: common oranges, blood or pigmented oranges, navel oranges, and acidless oranges.[18][19][20]
Other citrus groups also known as oranges are:
  • Bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), also known as Seville orange, sour orange (especially when used as rootstock for a sweet orange tree), bigarade orange and marmalade orange. Like the sweet orange, it is a pomelo x mandarin hybrid.[21]
  • Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia Risso), grown mainly in Italy for its peel, producing a primary essence for perfumes, also used to flavorEarl Grey tea. It is a hybrid, probably bitter orange x limetta.[22]
  • Trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), sometimes included in the genus (classified as Citrus trifoliata). It often serves as a rootstock for sweet orange trees and other Citrus cultivars.[23]
  • Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) is an original species of citrus, and is a progenitor of the common orange.
An enormous number of cultivars have, like the sweet orange, a mix of pomelo and mandarin ancestry. Some cultivars are mandarin-pomelo hybrids, bred from the same parents as the sweet orange (e.g. thetangor and ponkan tangerine). Other cultivars are sweet orange x mandarin hybrids (e.g. clementines).Mandarin traits generally include being smaller and oblate, easier to peel, and less acidic.[24] Pomelotraits include a thick white albedo (rind pith, mesocarp) that is more closely attached to the segments.
Orange trees generally are grafted. The bottom of the tree, including the roots and trunk, is called rootstock, while the fruit-bearing top has two different names: budwood (when referring to the process of grafting) and scion (when mentioning the variety of orange).[25]

Etymology

Main article: Orange (word)
The word orange derives from the Sanskrit word for "orange tree" (नारङ्ग nāraṅga), which is probably of Dravidian origin.[26] The Sanskrit word reached European languages through Persian نارنگ (nārang) and its Arabic derivative نارنج (nāranj).

A cluster of orange blossoms.
The word entered Late Middle English in the fourteenth century via Old French orenge (in the phrasepomme d'orenge).[27] The French word, in turn, comes from Old Provençal auranja, based on Arabicnāranj.[26] In several languages, the initial n present in earlier forms of the word dropped off because it may have been mistaken as part of an indefinite article ending in an n sound—in French, for example,une norenge may have been heard as une orenge. This linguistic change is called juncture lossThe color was named after the fruit,[28] and the first recorded use of orange as a color name in English was in 1512.[29][30]

A closeup of an orange blossom.
As Portuguese merchants were presumably the first to introduce the sweet orange in Europe, in several modern Indo-European languages the fruit has been named after them. Some examples are Albanianportokall, Bulgarian портокал (portokal), Greek πορτοκάλι (portokali), Macedonian portokal, Persianپرتقال (porteghal), and Romanian portocală.[31][32] Related names can be found in other languages, such as Arabic البرتقال (bourtouqal), Georgian ფორთოხალი (p'ort'oxali), Turkish portakal and Amharicbirtukan.[31] Also, in southern Italian dialects (e.g. Neapolitan), an orange is portogallo or purtuallo, literally "(the) Portuguese (one)", in contrast to standard Italian arancia.
In other Indo-European languages, the words for orange allude to the eastern origin of the fruit and can be translated literally as "apple from China". Some examples are Low German Apfelsine, Dutchappelsien and sinaasappel, Swedish apelsin, and Norwegian appelsin.[32] A similar case is Puerto Rican Spanish china.[33][34]
Various Slavic languages use the variants pomaranč (Slovak), pomeranč (Czech), pomaranča(Slovene), and pomarańcza (Polish), all the from Old French pomme d'orenge.[35][36]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The plum

plum is a fruit of the subgenus Prunus of the genus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera (peachescherriesbird cherries, etc.) in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds (not clustered), the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one side and a smooth stone (or pit).
Mature plum fruit may have a dusty-white coating that gives them a glaucous appearance. This is anepicuticular wax coating and is known as "wax bloom". Dried plum fruits are called dried plums or prunes, although prunes are a distinct type of plum, and may have antedated the fruits now commonly known as plums.

Species[edit]

Prunus cultivar (mature fruits with natural wax bloom)
Plum flowers
Plum has many species, and taxonomists differ on the count. Depending on the taxonomist, between 19 to 40 species of plum exist. From this diversity only two species, the hexaploid European plum (Prunus domestica) and the diploid Japanese plum (Prunus salicina and hybrids), are of worldwide commercial significance. The origin of these commercially important species is uncertain but may have involved P. cerasifera and possibly P. spinosa as ancestors. Other species of plum variously originated in Europe, Asia and America.[4]
The subgenus Prunus is divided into three sections:
  • Sect. Prunus (Old World plums)- leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers 1-3 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed
  • Sect. Prunocerasus (New World plums) - leaves in bud folded inwards; flowers 3-5 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed
  • Sect. Armeniaca (apricots) - leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers very short-stalked; fruit velvety; treated as a distinct subgenus by some authors

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The cherry

A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species such as cultivars of the sweet cherry, Prunus avium. The name 'cherry' also refers to the cherry tree, and is sometimes applied to almonds and visually similar flowering trees in the genus Prunus, as in "ornamental cherry", "cherry blossom", etc. Wild Cherry may refer to any of the cherry species growing outside of cultivation, although Prunus avium is often referred to specifically by the name "wild cherry" in the British Isles.

Many cherries are members of the subgenus Cerasus, which is distinguished by having the flowers in small corymbs of several together (not singly, nor in racemes), and by having smooth fruit with only a weak groove along one side, or no groove. The subgenus is native to the temperate regions of theNorthern Hemisphere, with two species in America, three in Europe, and the remainder in Asia. Other cherry fruits are members of subgenus Padus. Cherry trees with low exposure to light tend to have a bigger leaf size so they can intercept all light possible. Cherry trees with high exposure to light tend to have thicker leaves to concentrate light and have a higher photosynthetic capacity.[1]
Most eating cherries are derived from either Prunus avium, the sweet cherry (also called the wild cherry), or from Prunus cerasus, the sour cherry.