Botanical Definition
A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains attached or fused with the ovary wall. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (not opening at maturity). True nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales.
- Order Fagales
- Family Juglandaceae
- Butternut (Juglans)
- Hickory
- Wingnut (Pterocarya)
- Family Fagaceae
- Beech (Fagus)
- Chestnut (Castanea)
- Oak (Quercus)
- Stone-oak, Tanoak (Lithocarpus)
- Family Betulaceae
- Alder (Alnus)
- Hazel, Filbert (Corylus)
- Hornbeam
Read more about this topic: Nut (fruit)
Famous quotes containing the words botanical and/or definition:
“Evolution was all over my chldhood, walks abroad with an evolutionist and the world was full of evolution, biological and botanical evolution.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Mothers often are too easily intimidated by their children’s negative reactions...When the child cries or is unhappy, the mother reads this as meaning that she is a failure. This is why it is so important for a mother to know...that the process of growing up involves by definition things that her child is not going to like. Her job is not to create a bed of roses, but to help him learn how to pick his way through the thorns.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)