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Nº 010 · Nature · 45 sec

Why is a banana a berry but a strawberry isn't?

In botany, the name doesn't count – how the fruit forms from the flower does.

A bunch of yellow bananas
Photo: Justus Blümer from Deutschland · CC BY 2.0 · Original

Your guess

Which one is botanically a berry?

What makes a berry

Botanically, a berry develops from a single ovary, and its entire fruit wall is juicy or fleshy when ripe. That's true of bananas, tomatoes, kiwis and bell peppers – and even of lemons and melons.

Close-up of a strawberry's surface with small yellowish seeds
The strawberry's actual fruits are the tiny "seeds" on its surface. The red flesh is the swollen flower base – a false fruit.Photo: atramos · CC BY 2.0 · Original

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. Wikipedia (German): Beere (accessed 2026-10-05)
  2. Wikipedia: Berry (botany) (accessed 2026-10-05)
  3. Wikipedia (German): Erdbeeren (accessed 2026-10-05)

Image credits

  • “Bananas (white background).jpg”, Justus Blümer from Deutschland, CC BY 2.0
  • “Strawberry achenes close-up.jpg”, atramos, CC BY 2.0

Fits with this

  • Nº 008 · Nature · 55 sec

    Why is a mushroom more closely related to you than to a plant?

    It sits in the forest floor and doesn't move. Yet it belongs on our side of the family tree.