View source for Nut (fruit)

[[Image:Hazelnuts.jpg|thumb|[[Hazelnut]]s from the [[Common Hazel]]]]
[[Image:Chestnut.jpg|thumb|[[Chestnut]]]]

This article should be merged with [[nut]].

A '''nut''' can be either a [[seed]] or a [[fruit]]. 

== Botanical definitions ==

A '''nut''' in [[botany]] is a ''simple dry [[fruit]]'' with one [[seed]] (rarely two) in which the [[ovary (plants)|ovary]] wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains unattached or unfused with the ovary wall.  Most nuts come from [[carpel|pistils]] with ''inferior'' ovaries (see [[flower]]) and all are ''indehiscent'' (not opening at maturity).  True nuts are produced, for example, by some plants — families of the [[order (biology)|order]] [[Fagales]]. 

;Order [[Fagales]]
*Family [[Juglandaceae]] 
** [[Walnut]] - esp. [[Juglans regia]], the '''[[Persian Walnut]]'''
** [[Butternut]] (''[[Juglans]]'')
** [[Hickory]], [[Pecan]] (''[[Carya]]'')
** [[Wingnut]] (''[[Pterocarya]]'')
* Family [[Fagaceae]]
** [[Chestnut]] (''[[Castanea]]'')
** [[Beech]] (''[[Fagus]]'')
** [[Oak]] (''[[Quercus]]'')
** [[Stone-oak]], [[Tanoak]] (''[[Lithocarpus]]'')
* Family [[Betulaceae]]
** [[Alder]] (''[[Alnus]]'')
** [[Birch]] (''[[Betula]]'')
** [[Hazel]], [[Filbert]] (''[[Corylus]]'')
** [[Hornbeam]]

[[Image:KoreanPineSeeds.jpg|right|thumb|[[Korean Pine]] pine nuts — unshelled, and shell, above; shelled, below]]

A '''nut''' in [[cuisine]] is a much less restrictive category than a nut in botany, as the term is applied (or misapplied, depending upon the viewpoint) to many [[seed]]s that are not true nuts.  Any large, oily [[seed|kernel]] found within a shell and used in food may be regarded as a nut.

Some fruits and seeds that are nuts in the culinary sense but not in the botanical sense:
*[[Almond]] is the edible seed of a [[drupe]] — the leathery "flesh" is removed at harvest.
*[[Brazil nut]] is the seed from a [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]].
*[[Candlenut]] (used for oil) is a seed.
*[[Cashew]] nut is a seed.
*[[Coconut]] is a dry, fibrous drupe.
*[[Aesculus|Horse-chestnut]] is an inedible capsule.
*[[Macadamia]] nut is a creamy white kernel ([[Macadamia integrifolia]]).
*[[Mongongo]]
*[[Peanut]] is a [[legume]] and a seed.
*[[Pine nut]] is the seed of several species of [[pine]] ([[Pinophyta|coniferous]] trees).
*[[Pistachio]] nut is the seed of a thin-shelled drupe.

''See also:'' [[List of edible seeds]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Mixed nuts bowl.jpg|Bowl of mixed nuts
</gallery>

==References==
<references />
Kellogg, John H. "Nuts May Save the Race." The Itinerary of Breakfast. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1920. 165–203.