While the term “berry” often brings to mind small, sweet fruits like strawberries and blueberries, its scientific, botanical definition is quite different. This distinction reveals that many familiar fruits are not what they seem, while others you might never suspect actually fit the botanical criteria.
What is a Berry, Botanically Speaking?
In botany, a true berry is a simple fleshy fruit that develops from a single flower with one ovary. The defining characteristic of a botanical berry is that its entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp, which is the fruit wall. This pericarp, or fruit wall, typically consists of three soft, fleshy layers: the exocarp (outer skin), mesocarp (middle layer), and endocarp (inner layer surrounding the seeds).
Berries generally contain one or more seeds embedded directly within the fleshy pulp. Unlike some other fruit types, a true berry does not have a hard stone or pit surrounding its seeds. This means that fruits like peaches or cherries, which have a hard inner layer around their seed, are not considered berries. The botanical classification focuses on the developmental origin and structural characteristics of the fruit, rather than its size or common culinary use.
The World’s Biggest Berry
The title of the world’s biggest botanical berry belongs to certain members of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), specifically varieties of pumpkin or watermelon. These fruits are botanically classified as a specialized type of berry called a “pepo”. Pepos are characterized by their hard or leathery rind, fleshy interior, and numerous flattened seeds.
The Atlantic giant pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) holds the record for the world’s largest fruit. In October 2023, a new record was set by a pumpkin weighing an astounding 2,749 pounds (1,246.9 kg), measuring over 21 feet in circumference. While watermelons are also pepos and can grow to considerable sizes, with some exceeding 300 pounds, pumpkins currently hold the record for overall mass.
Botanical Berries and Common Misconceptions
Many fruits commonly consumed are, in fact, botanical berries, although they are not typically labeled as such in everyday language. Examples include bananas, tomatoes, grapes, and eggplants, all of which develop from a single ovary and have fleshy pericarps with embedded seeds. Avocados are also considered botanical berries, sometimes even classified as drupes due to their single large seed, but their fleshy nature aligns them with berries. Citrus fruits, such as oranges and lemons, are another specialized type of berry called a “hesperidium,” distinguished by their leathery rind and segmented interior.
Conversely, many fruits commonly referred to as “berries” do not meet the botanical definition. Strawberries, for instance, are not true berries; they are classified as aggregate accessory fruits. Their fleshy part develops from the plant’s receptacle, not the ovary, and the small, seed-like structures on their surface are actually individual fruits called achenes. Similarly, raspberries and blackberries are aggregate fruits, formed from the fusion of many small individual fruitlets, each derived from a separate ovary within a single flower.