Botanical Nerd Word: Pome

squirrel eating apples in a crap apple tree

Pome: A fruit in which the seeds are protected by a tough carpel wall and the entire fruit is embedded in a fleshy receptacle. In an apple, the carpel wall surrounding the seeds comprises the core, which is the true fruit, the edible fleshy part of the apple being the receptacle.*

This squirrel is munching on a pome provided by this gorgeous crab apple tree (Malus sp.)

Mmm . . . fleshy receptacles.

*Allaby, M. (2006). A dictionary of plant sciences (Revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.