= Dehiscent fruit
A <dehiscent fruit> opens naturally as it matures, releasing its <seeds>. This opening is <fruit dehiscence>. In an <indehiscent fruit>, by contrast, the mature enclosing <pericarp> remains intact during normal release of the fruiting unit. A <cypsela> carried with its <pappus> therefore disperses differently from a <fruit> that opens to free its enclosed <seeds>.<Glossary of Botanical Terms by PlantNET>[Entry dehiscent; Figure18 fruit types]{ref}
Opening is a regulated part of <plant development>. In 2000, <Sarah J. Liljegren> and collaborators compared <Arabidopsis thaliana> carrying changes in <SHATTERPROOF1>, <SHATTERPROOF2> or both <genes>. Individual mutants lacked the new opening defect, whereas the double mutant revealed that the two <genes> could compensate for one another. Mutant and constitutive-expression experiments connected their activity to differentiation of the opening zone and deposition of <lignin> in adjacent <cells>.<SHATTERPROOF MADS-box genes control seed dispersal in Arabidopsis by Sarah J. Liljegren and others>[Abstract: single/double mutants, dehiscence-zone differentiation and lignification]{ref}
A cracked specimen is not enough to identify a <dehiscent fruit>: accidental damage can tear an <indehiscent fruit>. Observe the normal mature structure and its reproducible opening pattern. <Fruit dehiscence> also differs from <germination>, which is development of the enclosed <seed> rather than opening of the <fruit> around it.
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