A false fruit is a type of fruit in which:

The correct answer is Option (3) → Fruit development includes the ovary and other floral parts.

After fertilisation, the ovules become seeds and the ovary becomes the fruit. In a few plants, such as apple, strawberry and cashew, the thalamus also grows and becomes part of the fruit. Such a fruit is a false fruit.

Option (1) Fruit development occurs only from the chalazal cells. — Incorrect. Chalazal cells are part of the ovule, at the end opposite the micropyle. They do not form the fruit, so this description fits neither a true fruit nor a false fruit.

Option (2) Fruit development occurs only from the embryo. — Incorrect. The embryo develops from the zygote and stays inside the seed. It grows into the new plant, not into the fruit.

Option (3) Fruit development includes the ovary and other floral parts. — Correct. In a false fruit, the ovary and another floral part (the thalamus) together form the fruit. That is why the fleshy part of an apple is not from the ovary alone.

Option (4) Fruit development occurs only from the ovary. — Incorrect. A fruit that develops only from the ovary is a true fruit. Most fruits are of this kind, so this option describes the opposite of a false fruit.

NCERT Extract:
Seed – “… In most plants, by the time the fruit develops from the ovary, other floral parts degenerate and fall off. However, in a few species such as apple, strawberry, cashew, etc., the thalamus also contributes to fruit formation. Such fruits are called false fruits (Figure 1.15b). Most fruits however develop only from the ovary and are called true fruits.”