Pome

**pome [ pohm ] noun: an accessory fruit with fleshy receptacle tissue (hypanthium) surrounding a tough core (inferior ovary) containing the seeds**

Although bananas are the most popular fresh fruit purchased by Americans, apples (fresh, frozen, canned, and juiced) rank number one overall as America’s top fruit choice according to the USDA Economic Research Service. Both bananas and apples are considered fleshy fruits, but bananas are berries and apples are pomes.

Cross section of a Gala apple — This *Malus domestica* ‘Gala’ appeared normal on the outside, but the cross section revealed an extra (6th) carpel of irregular form. Image © Mary Free

Section of a Bartlett pear flower — Adapted from an illustration courtesy of USDA
through Florida Center for Instructional Technology

Longitudinal section of a Bartlett pear — Compare the longitudinal section of *Pyrus communis* ‘Willams’ (aka Bartlett in the U.S.) fruit to the section of its flower. Image © Mary Free

Both have pericarps that develop from an ovary wall and protect the seeds inside. In a berry, the pericarp (except sometimes the exocarp, such as banana peel, orange rind, etc.) is edible. However, people usually discard the fruit of a pome, i.e. the core. The pome pericarp comprises the tough layer around the seeds (endocarp), the core flesh (mesocarp), and the outer core layer (exocarp) fused to the edible flesh. The part of a pome considered edible is not the fruit itself, but rather the enlargement of the flower receptacle (hypanthium). Examples of pomes are apples, crab apples, loquats, quinces, and pears.

Unlike their names and forms suggest, chokeberries and serviceberries also are pomes, not berries. Aronia arbutifolia and A. melanocarpa, are bitter or tart, especially when eaten raw, with the potential consequences reflected in their common name, chokeberries. The sweet pomes of Amelanchier arborea (downy serviceberry) taste somewhat like blueberries and ripen early summer, but there will be fierce competition to harvest them before the birds and mammals devour them all.

Mature pomes of native Aronia arbutifolia

Left to right: Chaenomeles speciosa, Malus coronaria, Aronia arbutifolia, Aronia melanocarpa, Amelanchier arborea.

NOTE: Plants in the wild should not be eaten without consulting an expert or authoritative field guides for information on identification and food preparation. It is easy to confuse plants in the wild, so you should be 100% sure they are edible before consuming them. Remember:

Just because a plant is not identified as toxic does not mean that it is safe to eat.
Sometimes only certain parts of a plant are edible and other parts of the same plant are toxic.
Sometimes parts are only edible at a certain time in their life cycle or when prepared in a certain way.

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