Definition of "pericarp" []

• Botany The wall of a ripened ovary; fruit wall. (noun)
• A membranous structure surrounding the cystocarp of red algae. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Popcorn pops because the pericarp is strong enough to hold in the steam created when the endosperm, which is 14.5 percent water, is heated — strong enough, that is, until the steam reaches 177 degrees C. and the pressure builds to 9.5 kilograms per square centimeter."
• "[18] It is possible that Theophrastus derived the word pericarp from"
• "The edible part is called the pericarp, which is the developed tissue of the ovary that surrounds the seeds."