Ria cuts a mango. The wall of the fruit, the pericarp, is 20 mm thick…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Ria cuts a mango. The wall of the fruit, the pericarp, is mm thick. The thin skin, the epicarp, is mm, and the stony endocarp is mm (made-up values). (a) How thick is the mesocarp? (b) What per cent of the pericarp is the mesocarp? (c) Which layer is the part we eat?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
A fruit is a mature ovary; a parthenocarpic fruit forms without fertilisation, as in banana. The pericarp has epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Mango and coconut are drupes from a monocarpellary superior ovary, with one seed. A seed has a seed coat (testa and tegmen), hilum, micropyle and an embryo. Dicot seeds such as gram and pea have two cotyledons and no endosperm; castor keeps endosperm. Maize has a membranous coat fused with the fruit wall, a bulky endosperm, an aleurone layer, one cotyledon called the scutellum, the coleoptile and the coleorhiza.
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. The mesocarp. mm.
Step 2. The share. per cent.
Step 3. The edible part. In a mango, the mesocarp is fleshy and edible.
Answer: (a) mm; (b) per cent; (c) the mesocarp.
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