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== Botanical definition == {{main|Berry (botany)}} {{multiple image | direction = | total_width = 400 | header = Culinary berries but not botanical berries | caption_align = center | header_align = center | image1 = Ripe, ripening, and green blackberries.jpg | caption1 = [[Blackberries]] – botanically: [[aggregate fruit]]s | image2 = Closeup of blackthorn aka sloe aka prunus spinosa sweden 20050924.jpg | caption2 = [[Sloe berries]] – botanically: [[stone fruit]]s or [[drupe]]s }}{{multiple image | direction = | total_width = 400 | header = Berries in the culinary and botanical sense | caption_align = center | header_align = center | image1 = Tyttebær.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = [[Lingonberries]] | image2 = Cranberrys beim Ernten.jpeg | caption2 = [[Cranberries]] }}{{multiple image | direction = | total_width = 400 | header = Botanical berries but not culinary berries | caption_align = center | header_align = center | image2 = Bananavarieties.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = [[Bananas]] | image1 = Watermelons.jpg | caption1 = [[Watermelons]] }} In [[botanical]] terminology, a berry is a simple fruit with [[seed]]s and pulp produced from the [[ovary (plants)|ovary]] of a single flower. It is fleshy throughout, except for the seeds. It does not have a special "line of weakness" along which it splits to release the seeds when ripe (i.e. it is [[Dehiscence (botany)|indehiscent]]).{{zwj}}<ref>{{cite web |first1=Robert W. |last1=Kiger |first2=Duncan M. |last2=Porter |date=2001 |title=Find term 'berry' |website=Categorical Glossary for the Flora of North America Project |url=http://fmhibd.library.cmu.edu/HIBD-DB/FNA/findrecords.php |access-date=14 August 2015 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> A berry may develop from an ovary with one or more [[carpels]] (the female reproductive structures of a flower). The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy examples such as [[Capsicum|peppers]], with air rather than pulp around their seeds. The differences between the everyday and botanical uses of "berry" result in three categories: those fruits that are berries under both definitions; those fruits that are botanical berries but not commonly known as berries; and those parts of plants commonly known as berries that are not botanical berries, and may not even be fruits. Berries under both definitions include [[blueberries]], [[cranberries]], [[lingonberries]], and the fruits of many other members of the [[heather family]], as well as [[gooseberries]], [[goji berries]] and [[elderberries]]. The fruits of some "currants" (''[[Ribes]]'' species), such as [[blackcurrant]]s, [[red currant]]s and [[white currant]]s, are botanical berries, and are treated as horticultural berries (or as soft fruit in the UK), even though their most commonly used names do not include the word "berry". Botanical berries not commonly known as berries include [[banana]]s,{{zwj}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html |title=Banana |website=Fruits of Warm Climates |first=Julia |last=Morton |publisher= [[Purdue University]] |access-date=16 April 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090415160027/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html| archive-date=15 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid1.htm|last=Armstrong |first=Wayne P.|title=Identification of Major Fruit Types |website=Wayne's Word: An On-Line Textbook of Natural History|access-date=17 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120221956/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid1.htm|archive-date=20 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=August 2015}} [[tomato]]es,{{zwj}}<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/> [[grape]]s, [[eggplant]]s (aubergines), [[persimmon]]s, [[watermelon]]s, and [[pumpkin]]s. There are several different kinds of fruits which are commonly called berries, but are not botanical berries. [[Blackberries]], [[raspberries]], and [[strawberries]] are kinds of [[aggregate fruit]];{{zwj}}<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica" /> they contain seeds from different ovaries of a single flower. In aggregate fruits like blackberries, the individual "fruitlets" making up the fruit can be clearly seen. The fruits of [[blackthorn]] may be called "sloe berries",{{zwj}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lea|first1=Andrew G. H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aWR3fuA7QIC&q=%22sloe+berries%22&pg=PA299|title=Fermented Beverage Production|last2=Piggott|first2=John Raymond|last3=Piggott|first3=John R.|date=2003-06-30|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-306-47706-5|language=en}}</ref> but botanically are small [[stone fruit]]s or drupes, like [[plum]]s or [[apricot]]s. [[Juniper]]s and [[Taxus|yews]] are commonly said to have berries, but these plants do not produce botanical fruits at all: they are [[gymnosperms]], specifically [[conifers]], not [[angiosperms]] (flowering plants). Their "berries" are highly-modified seed-bearing [[Conifer cone|cones]]. In [[juniper berries]], used to flavour [[gin]], the cone scales, which are hard and woody in most conifers, are instead soft and fleshy when ripe. The bright red berries of yews consist of a fleshy outgrowth{{nbsp}}([[aril]]) almost enclosing the poisonous seed. The resemblance of these plant structures to botanical berries provides a striking example of [[convergent evolution]] in different plant [[clades]].
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