It appears that my intentions and reality do not mesh, yet again…a Botany Word of the Week is just simply too much for me to maintain on top of all my other projects. But I love creating these posts and I hope you enjoy reading them – so I’ll switch to a monthly format which should be far easier for me to complete. We’ll see…intentions, you know….
Dehiscent
If you have a medical background, you’ll already know what this term means…except I’m going to use it in relationship to fruits.
When they are mature and dry enough, dry dehiscent fruit split open to release their seeds. Dehiscence is this act of breaking open at a seam. The part that splits is the pericarp (comprised of ovule-bearing structures of the flower called carpels).
The dry dehiscent fruit you are probably most familiar with belong to legumes. Peas, beans, and lentils fall into this category. They all have one carpel and if you’ve ever shelled garden peas, you’ll recognize the way that carpel splits open (except that you’re facilitating the split before it’s “supposed” to happen. When you allow peas to dry for harvesting, and they split open, then you’re letting them do their thing).
Do you remember this post I did a couple of years ago about the ‘Le Puy’ lentils I grew? What I’m describing there is the explosive way the dehiscent fruit burst open when they’re ready. And I’ll never forget the way that the seed pods of the Caragana shrubs that lined the driveway to my childhood home audibly crackled and violently burst on hot, late summer days, showering the seeds everywhere.
‘Le Puy’ lentils…not yet dry enough to split open.
Peanuts are one dehiscent legume that don’t – thankfully – burst open when dry. You have to help them along by breaking them open yourself.
There are always exceptions. Some legumes have indehiscent fruit, and their carpel does not split open when dry. If you have a honey locust growing in your yard, that’s a good example.
Legumes aren’t the only dry dehiscent fruit. There are capsules, which have more than one ovule. Lilies and poppies have capsules. There are also follicles, of which plants such as columbines have more than one. Siliques are another. These are a type of elongated fruit that kind of resemble legumes. If you’ve ever allowed your radishes to set seed, that pod you’re looking at is a silique. Just for fun, there are also silicles, which are not as long as siliques. Honestly, I’m not making this up, even if it sounds a bit giggle-inducing.
What is your favourite dry dehiscent fruit to grow?
Some links for further reading:
https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/termfr1.htm
http://science.jburroughs.org/resources/flower/fruit2.html
Flowery Prose 
I can think of a few; peas and pole beans for two. But love-in-a-mist beats them all, those it’s a flower (nigella). It just explodes all over the garden.
Oh yes – that it does! 🙂
Heel leerrijk blog
I think the most dear to me is the sound of gorse (Ulex europaeus) pods popping on a hot, dry, summer day, pinging the seeds everywhere. Almost as memorable as some acanthus stems with seed pods I used in an arrangement in a boardroom once and which decided to explode during a meeting.
I knew that happened, but didn’t really know the term. I had some pods of a wild pea in a plastic container near the kitchen table and when they popped, it scared my kids. I also learned to put a lid on.
Thanks for the vocabulary lesson! Always love learning new words. So post as often as the mood strikes you. The Biking Gardner’s description of popping gorse is wonderful.
I don’t have a favorite, since I really pay not attention to split fruit of something that is not grown for fruit. I don’t particularly like those odd native iris that make those split pods of red M&Ms. However, the many species of Yucca are divided into groups of those with dehiscent fruit and indehiscent fruit.
I would say my faves are peas and peanuts. I love peas and have shucked many of those in my life. 😉 And I love peanuts more so for creamy peanut butter. Yummmmm…😍quite the interesting words too. I have only heard of one of them. 🤔🌷
Have a super day Sheryl.
Mmmmm….peanut butter…. Okay, I shouldn’t read these sorts of comments before breakfast. 😉
I can’t remember which plant I brought into the house many, many years ago, but I certainly remember the experience of finding seeds all over the dining room once those pods decided to split and spit out their seeds. I remember coming across ‘dehiscent’ in my reading, too, and skipping right past it because I didn’t know what it meant. Now I do.
What wonderful words, I had to say them out load. I especially love siliques. Stay well and safe x