Fruit tree Fruit tree A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by humans and some animals — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the term 'fruit tree' is limited to those that provide fruit for human food. Types of fruits are described and defined elsewhere (see Fruit), but would include "fruit" in a culinary sense, as well as some nut-bearing trees, such as walnuts. The scientific study and the cultivation of fruits is called pomology, which divides fruits
Fruit tree propagation cultivars of a single species, known as a family tree, or, within certain limits, cultivars of different fruit species on one tree, often known as a fruit salad tree. Family trees typically combine several cultivars (two or three being most common) of apple, pear or a given species of stonefruit on a single rootstock, while fruit salad trees typically carry two or more different species from within a given genus, such as plum, apricot, and peach or mandarin orange, lemon, and lime. Certain combinations, including sour cherry ("prunus cerasus")/sweet cherry ("prunus avium"), although from the same genus, are known to