# What's a fruit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146 "2009-08-12T04:53:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reignx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Reignx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reignx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/1 "2009-08-12T04:53:25Z")
If a strawberry and an apple are not technically “fruits”, what common fruit passes the definition to be called a true fruit? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/2 "2009-08-12T05:07:11Z")
Plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, grapes, currants, oranges, lemons. In a technical botanical sense, a fruit is composed of the tissue of the ovary alone. Strawberries and apples, and many other fruits, incorporate other associated tissues. (Actually, the term for these is “accessory fruit.”) ---
**Author:** ![Reignx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Reignx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reignx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/3 "2009-08-12T05:32:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, grapes, currants, oranges, lemons. > > In a technical botanical sense, a fruit is composed of the tissue of the ovary alone. Strawberries and apples, and many other fruits, incorporate other associated tissues. (Actually, the term for these is “accessory fruit.”) Just chasing the rabbit down the hole. Oranges and grapes are berrys. This makes them not technically fruit. (I don’t think) I never thought this would be so complicated… Peaches and apricots might be drupes?? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/4 "2009-08-12T06:27:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In a technical botanical sense, a fruit is composed of the tissue of the ovary alone. In a very, very, very, highly specialised, technical botanical sense. I have never met a botanist who would have a problem describing strawberries and apples etc. as fruit. They may later clarify that as a pome, accessory fruit etc. but the general term used by a botanist to describe those fruits is, well, a fruit. IOW unless you’re at some highly specialised botanical conference you can quite freely describe an apple as a fruit and everybody in the world will agree with you and understand you. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/5 "2009-08-12T10:16:21Z")
> [@Reignx](#): > > Just chasing the rabbit down the hole. Oranges and grapes are berrys. This makes them not technically fruit. (I don’t think) I never thought this would be so complicated… It’s not complicated at all. Just think in **botanical** terms, not culinary. All you have to bear in mind is that **a fruit is the “child” of a plant** and they come in many different sorts and shapes: berries, nuts, drupes and whathaveyou. Oranges are indeed berries and so are bananas, cucumbers and tomatoes. > [@Reignx](#): > > Peaches and apricots might be drupes?? They not only might, they are, together with plums, cherries, almonds and walnuts. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/6 "2009-08-12T13:15:47Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Oranges are indeed berries and so are bananas, cucumbers and tomatoes. But, ironically enough, not strawberries… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/7 "2009-08-12T15:03:27Z")
> [@Reignx](#): > > Just chasing the rabbit down the hole. Oranges and grapes are berrys. This makes them not technically fruit. (I don’t think) I never thought this would be so complicated… True berries are technically fruits. > [@Blake](#): > > In a very, very, very, highly specialised, technical botanical sense. I have never met a botanist who would have a problem describing strawberries and apples etc. as fruit. They may later clarify that as a pome, accessory fruit etc. but the general term used by a botanist to describe those fruits is, well, a fruit. > IOW unless you’re at some highly specialised botanical conference you can quite freely describe an apple as a fruit and everybody in the world will agree with you and understand you. I agree completely. No botanist I know ever quibbles about the distinction. This is the sort of technical definition brought up by trivia quizzes and mostly ignored by specialists, unless perhaps they are writing an article about fruit structure or development. In general, apples and strawberries are fruits to a botanist as well as the layman. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/8 "2009-08-12T15:04:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I agree completely. No botanist I know ever quibbles about the distinction. This is the sort of technical definition brought up by trivia quizzes and mostly ignored by specialists, unless perhaps they are writing an article about fruit structure or development. Apples and strawberries are fruits. Oddly, this was part of a pub trivia last Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/9 "2009-08-12T16:08:38Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Oddly, this was part of a pub trivia last Monday. And an episode of Big Bang Theory on not too long ago too. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/10 "2009-08-12T16:49:38Z")
…And an odd text my brother sent me the other day, out of the blue, asking me to look up whether an olive was a fruit or a vegetable (my answer, from what I could figure out by Wikipedia, is that it’s a fruit like a cherry is). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/11 "2009-08-12T17:41:06Z")
> [@](#): > > …And an odd text my brother sent me the other day, out of the blue, asking me to look up whether an olive was a fruit or a vegetable (my answer, from what I could figure out by Wikipedia, is that it’s a fruit like a cherry is). It’s both, of course, just like a tomato, bell pepper, or green bean. Some vegetables are fruits, some are roots, some are leaves, and some are various other parts of a plant. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/12 "2009-08-12T18:42:46Z")
In botany classes back in th 60s we used “fructifications” for most of the items bantered around in above threads. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/13 "2009-08-13T16:19:38Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > …And an odd text my brother sent me the other day, out of the blue, asking me to look up whether an olive was a fruit or a vegetable (my answer, from what I could figure out by Wikipedia, is that it’s a fruit like a cherry is). “Fruit” is a biology term; “vegetable” is a culinary term. They are not mutually exclusive. A plant or part of a plant can be one, the other, both, or neither. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fruit/506146/14 "2009-08-13T17:43:08Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > “Fruit” is a biology term; “vegetable” is a culinary term. They are not mutually exclusive. A plant or part of a plant can be one, the other, both, or neither. “Fruit” is a culinary term too, for sweet plant parts typically served as dessert. Many botanical fruits, like tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, or avocados, are not culinary fruits. The false dichotomy between fruits and vegetables can be best understood by asking questions like: Is broccoli, cauliflower, or and artichoke a flower or a vegetable? Is a yam or a potato a root or a vegetable?