Indehiscent fruit
= Indehiscent fruit
An <indehiscent fruit> remains closed at maturity instead of splitting open in a regular way to release its <seeds>. The category describes the opening behaviour of the <fruit>, rather than the number of <seeds> or the origin of its floral tissues.<Glossary of Botanical Terms by PlantNET>[Entry indehiscent: not opening at maturity to release seed or pollen]{ref}
An <achene> and a <caryopsis> are illuminating examples. Both remain closed, but their internal construction differs: in an <achene>, the <seed> is free from the <pericarp>; in a <caryopsis>, the <pericarp> and <seed coat> are fused. Thus knowing that a <fruit> is indehiscent does not identify its precise fruit type.<Glossary of Botanical Terms by PlantNET>[Entries achene and caryopsis; Figure18Q–S]{ref}
Closed does not mean permanently sealed against every later event. A <fruit> may eventually decay or be broken by an animal. The distinction from a <dehiscent fruit> concerns its normal opening at maturity, not whether a person can cut it open or its <seed> can eventually emerge during <germination>.