Bill Dowie, BA, MCPM, LEED-AP O+M Botanically Speaking: Getting to Know the Food We Eat Everyday Food is a wondrous life-giving thing. However, you may be surprised about how many parts of a plant we humans are actual consuming. You will see a short pictorial lecture on leaves, tubers, roots, stems, flowers, fruit, seeds, and more - all botanically related back to what we really are eating on our dinner plate.
Plant Parts Based on the Manitoba Master Gardener Handbook Oct 2008 Botany Basics Chapter
Vegetative parts Sexual Reproductive parts TWO GROUP STRUCTURES
Vegetative parts roots stems shoot buds leaves
ROOTS tap fibrous tuberous
STEMS ON GROUND long (runners / stolons) strawberry compressed (crowns root/stem interface) dandelions
STEMS ABOVE GROUND trunks spurs canes vines
STEMS BELOW GROUND rhizomes tubers with (inter)nodes eyes corms bulbs
LEAVES scale (cataphylls) seed (cotyledons) spines & tendrils storage bracts
BUDS leaf bud with embryonic leaves flower bud with embryonic flower parts
Sexual Reproductive parts flower buds flowers seeds fruit
Fruits https://scientiaandveritas.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/pomesand-berries-and-drupes-oh-my/ Fleshy Simple (pome, drupe, berry), Aggregate, and Multiple Dry Simple (legumes, capsules, samaras, nuts)
Dry simple fruits include: - dehiscent (follicle, legume, silique, capsule) - indehiscent (samara, achene, caryopsis, nut) Dehiscent: Ovary splits upon maturing o Follicle: Pod formed from a single carpel and splits on one side milkweed, peony, magnolia o Legume: Pod from a leguminous plant (fixes own nitrogen for growth) pea, bean, soya, peanut o Silique: Long pods from the mustard family and splits from both sides fruits/seeds of the cabbage family (not the part we eat!) o Capsule: Pod formed from two carpels brazil nut, horse chestnut, poppy, lily, Indehiscent: Ovary does not split upon maturing o Samara: Single seeded fruit with a flat and fibrous winged structure has formed over the ovary, to be carried by the wind sycamore, elm seeds o Achene: Single seeded fruit buckwheat, buttercup o Caryopsis: Single seeded fruit where the pericarp is fused to the seed cereals, grass seeds o Nut: Hard fruit or shell encasing the seed acorn, hazelnut, wallnut http://rsandss.blogspot.com/p/vegetables_18.html#t9huxmljmvvsblvr.99
Now It s time to match these terms with some of the foods we eat
Carrot elongated tap-root
Radish elongated tap-root
Sweet Potato tuberous root (storage organ)
Stem Nodes = eyes (regular) Potato underground stem - tuber
Asparagus enlarged succulent stem
Cauliflower proliferated stem
Head Lettuce unusually large terminal bud
Brussels Sprouts succulent axillary buds
Globe Artichoke basal portion of flower bud s bracts
Beats roots, stems, leaves
Broccoli edible flower buds (+ stems and leaves)
Leaf Lettuce edible leaf blade
Parsley leaf blades + stems
Celery thick and succulent leaf petiole
Onion fleshy leaves, leaf bases, turnicate bulb
Leeks leaf blade and base
Nasturtium spicy flowers
Apple fleshy fruit (pome)
Peach fleshy fruit (drupe)
Raspberry Blackberry fleshy fruit (aggregate) [one flower many ovaries and pistils]
Pineapple fleshy fruit (multiple) [many flowers tightly compacted on a single structure]
Tomato fleshy fruit (true berry) entire pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy
Rhubarb thick and fruity leaf petiole
Peas dry fruit [legumes]
The shoots, which are the tender tips of the vines, including the leaves, stems, flower blossoms, and tendrils [stem structure], make the most fantastic and unexpected salad greens. They taste like peas, but with a wonderful grassy, green flavor that is all their own. Edible Gardening 101: How to Harvest Pea Shoots Vegetarian Times www.vegetariantimes.com/blog/edible-gardening-101-how-to-harvest-pea-shoots
Cabbage unusually large terminal bud
Variety of Beans dry fruit (legumes)
Peanuts dry fruit [legumes]
Walnut dry fruit (true nut)
Raisins sun-dried (black) grapes - used to be a fleshy fruit (berries) -
Cucumber fleshy fruit (true berry) entire pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy
Banana fleshy fruit (true berry) entire pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy
Corn fleshy fruit seeds are on the outside of fruit tissue as opposed to other fruits (eg. apples, oranges, cucumbers)
Poppy Seeds dry fruit [capsules]
Sunflower Seeds dry fruit of the sunflower, Helianthus annuus
Pumpkin Seeds true seeds (dried), taken from inside the guts of the fruit, pumpkin
Pumpkin fleshy fruit [gourds]
The avocado (Persea americana) is a tree that is native to South Central Mexico, classified as a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae. Avocado (aka alligator pear) additionally refers to the tree's fruit, which is botanically a large berry containing a single seed Avocado fleshy fruit
Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies produced by some fungi
www.greatgrubclub.com/a-z-fruitveg#.v9y_frjrot8