Agriculture & Food Science in Credo: Fruits & Vegetables

Any of numerous varieties of a small deciduous tree with pink or white flowers and edible fruit.

A sweet-sour fruit, the apricot (Prunus armeniaca) was long viewed as a kind of plum - and one that came from Armenia. In truth, it is a stone fruit (a drupe) of the same family as the peach, plum, almond, nectarine, and cherry and apparently originated (despite its scientific name) in China, where it has been cultivated for some 5,000 years.

An evergreen tree growing to 18 m/60 ft (Persea americana), covered with aromatic oil glands, thought to be native to Central America.

Name for several species of the genus Musa and for the fruits these produce. The banana plant—one of the largest herbaceous plants—is said to be native to tropical Asia, but is now cultivated throughout the tropics.

Blueberries come from any of a number of shrubs of the genus Vaccinium that grow wild over much of the globe and can be found in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to the jungles of South America.

This complex genus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), with representatives in many parts of the world, includes the blackberries, raspberries, loganberries, boysenberries, and dewberries.

The small, round red to black fruits are botanically designated drupes, or stone fruits, as are those of the closely related peach, apricot, and plum. The cherry is one of the most commonly grown home-orchard fruits. About 600 varieties are cultivated, practically all derived from two species—P. avium (sweet cherries) and P. cerasus (sour cherries).

A member of a group of plants bearing distinctive juicy, acid-tasting fruits of great economic importance.

Fruit of the coco palm (Cocos nucifera), a tree widely distributed through tropical regions. The seed is peculiarly adapted to dispersal by water because the large pod holding the nut is buoyant and impervious to moisture.

Of the same genus as the blueberry, the cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a North American shrub that is so named because its flower stamens resemble a beak - hence “crane berry,” a name (which subsequently became “cranberry”) assigned to it by the early European settlers in New England.

This large genus contains some 800 species of widely varied tropical vines (some of which are epiphytic); shrubs; and trees, including the banyan, the peepul, or bo tree, and the India-rubber tree.

Common name for some members of the Cucurbitaceae, a family of plants whose range includes all tropical and subtropical areas and extends into the temperate zones.

Common name for the Vitaceae, a family of mostly climbing shrubs, widespread in tropical and subtropical regions and extending into the temperate zones.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia pomelo pŏm'əlō, or pummelo pum'məlō, citrus fruit (Citrus paradisi) of the family Rutaceae (orange family). The grapefruit is so named because it grows in grapelike bunches.

Small evergreen tree or shrub of the genus Psidium of the family Myrtaceae (myrtle family), native to tropical America and grown elsewhere for its ornamental flowers and edible fruit.

The kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) was a small, hard berry growing wild in China at the beginning of the twentieth century.

One of the citrus fruits, from a tree (Citrus limon) of the family Rutaceae (orange family), probably native to India.

Like most of the other members of the citrus family, the lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) is native to Southeast Asia. It was first cultivated in China and India, then introduced in southern Europe (probably during the Crusades), and carried much later by the Spaniards to the West Indies.

The mango tree (Mangifera indica) is an Asian evergreen that can attain a height of 100 feet or more.

An annual trailing vine, Cucumis melo, native to tropical Africa but widely cultivated for its edible fruits.

Common name for the Moraceae, a family of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, often climbing, mostly of pantropical distribution, and characterized by milky sap.

Olive, common name for the Oleaceae, a family of trees and shrubs (including climbing forms) of warm temperate climates and of the Old World tropics, especially Asia and the East Indies.

One way to categorize this fruit of the genus Citrus is to distinguish bitter oranges (C. aurantium) from sweet oranges (C. sinensis).

A large pear- or melon-shaped fruit to 20 cm long, from the tree Carica papaya which grows in most tropical and sub-tropical regions and is second only in importance to the banana amongst tropical fruit.

Apparently a native of China despite its scientific name, Prunus persica, the peach spread to the Middle East and then to Greece.

Name for a fruit tree of the genus Pyrus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a pome.

Although there are persimmon trees that are native to North America, the orange-red persimmon (Diospyros kaki) that North Americans usually consume originated in Asia.

A native of the New World, the pineapple (Ananas comosus) is now cultivated in frostfree areas around the world. The Tupi-Guarani Indians of South America have been credited with its domestication, although this is in some dispute.

A pitted fruit, or drupe, and related to peaches and apricots, the plum is the most widely distributed of all the stone fruits, growing on every continent save Antarctica.

Known in Old English as “pumpions” or “pompions,” pumpkins (or calabazas) make up several species of the genus Cucurbita, and considerable confusion exists about the differences between them and winter squashes.

A number of shrublike, prickly plants of the genus Rubus have fruits that we call raspberries.

The garden strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is probably the best known of the berries and certainly the most versatile.

A native of Africa, this ground-hugging vine (Citrullus lanatus = C. vulgaris), cultivated for its melons, managed early on to get around the globe with a great deal of agility.