Capsule (fruit)

In botany, a capsule is a type of simple, dry, though rarely fleshy dehiscent fruit produced by many species of angiosperms (flowering plants).

[1][2] The capsule (Latin: capsula, small box) is derived from a compound (multicarpellary) ovary.

In (flowering plants), the term locule (or cell) is used to refer to a chamber within the fruit.

Depending on the number of locules in the ovary, fruit can be classified as uni-locular (unilocular), bi-locular, tri-locular or multi-locular.

Septicidal capsules have dehiscence lines aligned with the sutures of the ovary septa or placentae, that is between the carpels.

Both loculicidal and septicidal capsules split into distinguishable segments called valves.

Examples of other plants that produce capsules include nigella, orchid, willow, cotton, and jimson weed.

Capsules derived from two carpels include silicles and siliques that dehisce along two suture lines but retain a partition called the replum, which is a septum with attached seeds.