What are Berries?
Berries are a type of fruit, but the type of fruit they are changes based on whether you're talking botanically or commonly. In the words common usage, a berry refers to any small, pulpy, and edible fruit. In the botanical usage, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone/pit that is produced from a single flower containing one ovary.- Hesperidia are modified berries. A hesperidium has a tough. leathery rind and formed from a many-celled ovary. This causes the fruit pulp to be divided into segments. An example of a hesperidium is an orange! All citrus fruits are hesperidium.
Pepos are also a special type of berry. They are defined by their hard outer rind, but no internal devisions. This is the term used for members of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae.
Wait, what do all those words mean?!
A pit is the hard seed in the center of a fruit. Cherries and peaches have stones/pits! On a flower, the ovary is the part of the pistil which hosts the ovules, structures which will grow into seeds. The flesh of berries comes from only one floral ovary.What are other types of fruit?
Other types of fruit are not limited to, but include:- Drupes have a pit in the middle, which is a hardened endocarp. The endocarp is the part of the fruit that directly surrounds the seeds. An example of this is a mango.
- Aggregate fruits are developed from several ovaries, that had been separated, in a single flower. Not all flowers with multiple ovaries form aggregate fruit; aggregate fruits are made when these fruitlets are tightly joined together. Aggregate fruits can also be defined as other types of fruits. An example of this is a raspberry, which is an aggregate fruit and a drupe.
- Accessory fruits are defined by having flesh made from parts of the flower adjacent to the floral ovary, usually outside the carpel. Accessory fruits can also be defined as other types of fruits. An example of this is an apple, which is an accessory fruit and a pome.This is different from multiple fruits, which are created from MANY flowers with multiple ovaries.
- Pomes are accessory fruit made from several carpels. An exmaple of this is a pear.
- Achenes are one-seeded fruits with the seed attached at one point only to the fruit. An example of this are the "seeds" of a strawberry. The strawberry itself is an accessory fruit, and an aggregate fruit. For a diagram, see the entry for 'Aggregate fruits'.
- Multiple fruits are created when many matured ovaries of multiple flowers unite into one mass. Pineapples are a multiple fruit. This is different than aggregate fruits, which are created from ONE flower with several ovaries.
The aggregate has many ovaries on one but the multiple has one ovary on multiple flowers.