Is a strawberry a berry?
Botanically, a strawberry is not a true berry. It is an accessory fruit, and the small seeds on its surface are actually its true fruits. Bananas, grapes and tomatoes, however, are berries.
In botany, a berry is a fleshy fruit that develops from a single flower with one ovary and usually contains several seeds inside. Grapes, blueberries, tomatoes, bananas and even avocados fit this definition. The word berry in everyday language just means a small, juicy, edible fruit.
A strawberry forms from the swollen base of the flower, called the receptacle, rather than the ovary. The tiny yellow specks on its surface, often called seeds, are each a separate fruit called an achene, with a seed inside. A single strawberry has about 200 of them.
Other surprises
Raspberries and blackberries are not true berries either. They are aggregate fruits made of many small fruitlets, each with its own seed. Watermelons, pumpkins and cucumbers are a type of berry called a pepo, with a hard rind.
Did You Know?
Strawberries belong to the rose family, along with apples, pears, cherries and almonds.