A fruit that develops from multiple flowers clustered together in an inflorescence, where the individual fruits fuse together into a single structure. Pineapples and figs are classic examples.
From Latin 'multiplex' (manifold, multiple) + 'fructus' (fruit). The term was established in botanical taxonomy during the 19th century to describe fruits that originate from entire flower clusters rather than single flowers.
A pineapple is actually hundreds of individual flowers that got together and decided to become one giant fruit! Each diamond-shaped section on the pineapple's surface represents where one flower contributed to the collective fruit - it's like a botanical commune that worked out perfectly.
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