Article
Article
Nut crop culture
Article By:
Ferguson, Louise Kearney Agricultural Center, University of California, Parlier, California.
Last reviewed:January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.462300
The cultivation of plants, primarily trees, that produce nuts. The term nut is used loosely. In general, a nut is defined as any edible fruit or seed enclosed in a hard shell. Botanically, a nut is a hard, indehiscent, one-seeded (nut), pericarp (shell) generally resulting from a compound ovary of a flower. Indehiscent means the shell does not split open spontaneously when ripe. Examples are chestnuts, filberts (hazelnuts) [see illustration], and acorns. Technically, a nut is a dry edible fruit consisting of a kernel or seed enclosed in a woody shell. Only a fraction of the 80 fruits and seeds designated as nuts fit this description. The peanut is notable because the plant is a herbaceous annual legume in which the nuts are analogous to pea pods that mature underground. See also: Flower; Fruit; Seed
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