Strawberries are botanically berries – Fact Check

An official website of the United States government · Here’s how you know

Checking your browser before accessing pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Click here if you are not automatically redirected after 5 seconds

Taxonomy information for Fragaria x ananassa. Find diseases associated with this biological target and compounds tested against it in bioassay experiments.

How do these criteria apply to strawberries, raspberries and all the other fruits we consider part of the berry kingdom? Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries are not from a single ovary, so they don't fit the botanical definition of a berry. ...

Strawberries and raspberries aren't really berries in the botanical sense. They are derived from a single flower with more than one ovary, making them an aggregate fruit. True berries are simple fruits stemming from one flower with one ovary ...

Surprisingly, eggplants, tomatoes ... classified as berries. And the popular strawberry is not a berry at all. Botanists call the strawberry a "false fruit," a pseudocarp. A strawberry is actually a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle.

This structural mandate separates ... immediately deviates from the definition of a true berry because the fleshy, red part does not originate from the ovary....

Instead, they are an aggregate ... unexpected results: bananas and grapes are true berries, while strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are not....

To set the record straight, we’ve debunked some of the most common foodie misconceptions. ... … Botanists officially classify strawberries as aggregate fruit because they come from a flower with more than one ovary.