Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits in the world, yet their structure is botanically unusual and often misunderstood. Unlike most fruits where the edible flesh surrounds the seeds, the strawberry has its small, hard structures clearly visible on the surface. This unique arrangement makes the strawberry stand out, raising the common question about the true nature of these tiny specks. Understanding the anatomy of this familiar treat reveals a surprising truth about what we are actually eating.
What They Are Called
The small, yellowish-brown bumps covering the surface of a strawberry are not seeds; they are individual, true fruits called achenes. An achene is a specific type of dry, simple fruit that develops from a single ovary and contains just one seed. The fruit wall, or pericarp, is thin and hardened around the single seed inside, but does not adhere to it. On average, a single garden strawberry can carry approximately 200 of these tiny achenes embedded in its flesh.
The common perception of these structures as seeds is understandable, but botanically inaccurate. A seed is contained within a fruit, and in the case of the strawberry, each achene is a complete, miniature fruit. The actual seed is safely housed inside the achene’s protective shell. This means that when a person eats a strawberry, they are consuming hundreds of individual fruits at once.
The Red Fleshy Part
If the achenes are the true fruits, then the large, red, juicy portion of the strawberry is something else entirely. This delicious, sweet part does not develop from the flower’s ovary, which is the defining characteristic of a true fruit. Instead, the red flesh is a greatly enlarged structure known as the receptacle, which is the swollen tip of the flower stem.
In botanical terms, the strawberry is classified as an accessory fruit because the edible part is derived from tissue adjacent to the ovary. The receptacle is the part of the plant that holds all the flower’s reproductive organs. As the strawberry matures, this supporting stem tissue expands and becomes thick and fleshy, forming the bulk of what is eaten. This characteristic also means that botanists do not classify the strawberry as a berry, which must develop exclusively from a single ovary.
How the Strawberry Develops
The strawberry’s development begins with a flower that has many separate pistils, which are the female reproductive parts, all situated on the central receptacle. Each of these pistils contains a single ovary, and it is these ovaries that will eventually mature into the achenes. For a strawberry to form properly, many of the tiny pistils must be pollinated, typically by insects.
Once the flower is successfully fertilized, a chemical signal is sent that triggers the dramatic growth of the receptacle. This stem tissue swells rapidly, becoming the familiar red flesh while the fertilized ovaries on its surface remain small. The mature structure is an aggregate accessory fruit, formed from multiple separate ovaries (the achenes) on a non-ovarian part of the flower (the receptacle).
Growing New Plants
The achenes serve as the plant’s means of sexual reproduction, as they contain the true seeds needed to grow new strawberry plants. If an achene is planted, the seed inside will germinate and produce a seedling with a unique genetic makeup. However, growing plants from achenes is often impractical for farmers and home gardeners because the resulting plants may not share the desirable characteristics of the parent, such as fruit size or disease resistance.
The vast majority of strawberries are propagated asexually through specialized stems called runners. These runners are long, horizontal shoots that extend out from the main plant, take root in the soil, and establish new, genetically identical plants called daughter plants. This method allows growers to quickly and reliably produce clones of high-quality varieties, which is the standard practice in commercial strawberry cultivation.