Achene
Class of simple non-opening dry fruits
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Through Fruit, Flowering plant and Gynoecium
Examples
The fruits of buttercup, buckwheat, caraway, quinoa, amaranth, and cannabis are typical achenes.
The achenes of the strawberry are sometimes mistaken for seeds. The strawberry is an accessory fruit with an aggregate of achenes on its outer surface, and what is eaten is accessory tissue.
A rose produces an aggregate of achene fruits that are encompassed within an expanded hypanthium, which is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens unite with the receptacle to form a cup-shaped tube.
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Variations
A winged achene, as in maple, is called a samara.
Some achenes have accessory hair-like structures that cause them to tumble in the wind in a manner similar to a tumbleweed. This type sometimes is called a tumble fruit or diaspore. An example is Anemone virginiana.
A caryopsis or grain is a type of fruit that closely resembles an achene, but differs in that the pericarp is fused to the thin seed coat in the grain.
An utricle is like an achene, but the fruit is bladder-like or inflated.
Fruits of sedges are sometimes considered achenes although their one-locule ovary is a compound ovary.
The fruit of the family Asteraceae is also so similar to an achene that it is often considered to be one, although it derives from a compound inferior ovary (with one locule). A special term for the Asteraceae fruit is cypsela (plural cypselae or cypselas). For example, the white-gray husks of a sunflower "seed" are the walls of the cypsela fruit. Many cypselas (e.g. dandelion) have modified calyx tissue called pappi attached that functions in biological dispersal of the seed.