Question

The composite fruit of pineapple is
A. Syconus
B. Sorosis
C. Etaerio
D. Cyathium

Answer 1

Pineapples grow as a small shrub; the individual flowers of the unpollinated plant fuse to form multiple fruits. The plant is normally propagated from the offset produced at the top of the fruit, or from a side shoot, and typically mature within a year. Any multiple fruits, usually fleshy, that is derived from the multiple ovaries in an infructescence. Such a structure typically includes remnants of floral tissues such as the perianth.

Complete answer: Multiple fruits also called sorosis or collective fruits, are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of fruiting flowers, the inflorescence. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass in which each flower has produced a true fruit. After flowering, the mass is called an infructescence. Examples are the fig, pineapple, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfruit. First, an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they become connate into multiple fleshy fruits called a syncarp. There are also many dry multiple fruits. Other examples of multiple fruits include a plane tree, multiple achenes from multiple flowers, in a single fruit structure. Mulberry, multiple flowers form one fruit. Jackfruit, multiple flowers form one fruit. Fig, multiple flowers similar to mulberry infructescence form multiple fruits inside the inverted inflorescence. This form is called a Syconium.
The ovaries develop into berries, which coalesce into large, compact, multiple fruits. The fruit of a pineapple is usually arranged in two interlocking helices. The pineapple carries out CAM photosynthesis, fixing carbon dioxide at night and storing it as the acid malate, then releasing it during the day aiding photosynthesis.
Hence, the correct option is (B)-Sorosis
Note: Once it flowers, the individual fruits of the flowers join together to create multiple fruits. After the first fruit is produced, side shoots are produced in the leaf axils of the main stem. These may be removed for propagation, or left to produce additional fruits on the original plant.