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In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit. Most berries are edible, but some are poisonous to humans.

True berries are distinguishable from false berries like blueberries
Blueberry

Blueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native only to North America. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries" , and the larger species as "highbush blueberries"....
 and cranberries
Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccos, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccos....
 in which the fruit flesh is formed from other parts of the flower and not just the ovary.






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In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit. Most berries are edible, but some are poisonous to humans.

True berries are distinguishable from false berries like blueberries
Blueberry

Blueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native only to North America. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries" , and the larger species as "highbush blueberries"....
 and cranberries
Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccos, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccos....
 in which the fruit flesh is formed from other parts of the flower and not just the ovary. Also not true berries, aggregate fruits like raspberries
Raspberry

The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the subgenus Rubus#Scientific classification of the genus Rubus; the name also applies to these plants themselves....
 are collections of small fruits, and accessory fruit
Accessory fruit

An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
s like strawberries
Strawberry

Fragaria is the name of a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits....
 are formed from parts of the plant other than the flower. As explained below, none of these is a true berry.

Types of berries


True berries


Main article: True berry
True berry

In botany, berries or true berries are a simple fruit having seeds and pulp produced from a single ovary . The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp....


Berries (usda Ars)
In botanical
Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
 language, a berry or true berry is a simple fruit having seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s and pulp produced from a single ovary
Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
. The true berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 in which the entire ovary
Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
 wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary
Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
 and one or more carpels within a thin covering and fleshy interiors. The seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s are embedded in the common flesh of the ovary.

The true berries are dominated by the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Ericaceae
Ericaceae

The plant family Ericaceae are mostly calcium oxide-hating plants that thrive in acid soils. Many well-known plants of the Ericaceae live in temperate climates, such as cranberry, blueberry, Erica, Calluna vulgaris, huckleberry, azalea and rhododendron....
, many of which are hardy in the subarctic
Subarctic

The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang....
:

Other berries not in the Rosaceae or Ericaceae:

Eagleberry- berry native to Cambodia. Bald eagles eat it during the winter time. It is brown with white spots. The berry is about a palm size. Cambodian natives say that it is a great remedy to the winter flu.

Not a botanical berry

Many "berries" are not actual berries by the scientific definition, but fall into one of these categories:

  • False berries like blueberry and cranberry, are epigynous, made from a part of the plant other than a single ovary.
  • Compound fruit
    Compound fruit

    A compound fruit is one that develops from several ovary in either a single flower or multiple flowers. Conversely, a simple fruit develops from one ovary....
    , which includes:
    • Aggregate fruit are multiple fruits with seeds from different ovaries of a single flower, such as blackberry
      BlackBerry

      The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager. In 2002, the more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services as well as a multi-touch interface....
      , raspberry
      Raspberry

      The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the subgenus Rubus#Scientific classification of the genus Rubus; the name also applies to these plants themselves....
      , and boysenberry
      Boysenberry

      A boysenberry is a cross between a raspberry and the Rubus ursinus. For a berry, this is a very large fruit , with large seeds and a deep maroon color....
    • Multiple fruit
      Multiple fruit

      Multiple fruits are fruits that are formed from a cluster of flowers growing on a catkin. Each flower on the catkin produces a fruit , but these mature into a single mass....
      , being the fruits of separate flowers, packed closely together. The mulberry
      Mulberry

      Morus or Mulberry is a genus of 10?16 species of deciduous trees native to warm, temperate, and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, with the majority of the species native to Asia....
      , for example, is essentially like a cluster of grapes, but tiny and compressed into one "berry".
  • Other accessory fruit
    Accessory fruit

    An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
    , where the edible part is not generated by the ovary, such as the strawberry
    Strawberry

    Fragaria is the name of a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits....
     for which the seed-like achene
    Achene

    An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are "monocarpellate" and wikt:indehiscent . Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it....
    s are actually the "fruit" derived from the ovary.


The bramble fruits, compound fruit
Compound fruit

A compound fruit is one that develops from several ovary in either a single flower or multiple flowers. Conversely, a simple fruit develops from one ovary....
s of genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Rubus
Rubus

Rubus is a large genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. Raspberry, Blackberry, and Dewberry are common, widely distributed members of the genus....
 (blackberries), are some of the most popular pseudo-berries:

Raspberries (rubus Idaeus)

Modified berries

The fruit of citrus
Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of the world....
, such as the orange
Orange (fruit)

An orange?specifically, the sweet orange?is the citrus Citrus sinensis and its fruit. The orange is a Hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine ....
, kumquat
Kumquat

The kumquats or cumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, in the genus Fortunella which may better be included in Citrus as it is often done....
 and lemon
Lemon

The lemon is the common name for Citrus limon. The reproductive tissue surrounds the seed of the angiosperm lemon tree. The lemon is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world....
, is a modified berry called a hesperidium
Hesperidium

A hesperidium is a modified berry with a tough, leathery rind. The peel contains volatile oil glands in pits. The fleshy interior is composed of separate sections, called carpels, filled with fluid-filled vesicles that are actually specialized hair cells....
.

The fruit of cucumber
Cucumber

The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash , and in the same genus as the muskmelon....
s and their relatives are modified berries called "pepoes". A plant that bears berries is referred to as bacciferous.

Colour and medical benefits

By contrasting in colour with their background, berries are more attractive to animals that eat them, aiding in the dispersal
Biological dispersal

Biological dispersal refers to a species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population genetics, and species distribution....
 of the plant's seeds.

Berry colours are due to natural pigment
Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of light it Reflection as the result of selective color absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which the material itself emits light....
s synthesized by the plant. Medical research has uncovered medicinal properties of pigmented polyphenols, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannins and other phytochemicals localized mainly in berry skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
s and seeds
SEEDS

SEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India.SEEDS was formed in 1994 as an informal group of students and pedagogues of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, whose common interests brought them together and made them carry human habitat environment related exercises beyond set academic target...
. Berry pigments are usually antioxidant
Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the Redox of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent....
s and thus have oxygen radical absorbance capacity
Oxygen radical absorbance capacity

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods. It was developed by the scientists at the National Institute on Aging in the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, but this method is not approved by the NIH....
 ("ORAC") that is high among plant foods. Together with good nutrient content, ORAC distinguishes several berries within a new category of functional foods called "superfruit
Superfruit

Superfruit, a marketing term first used in the food and beverage industry in 2005, refers to a fruit which combines exceptional nutrient richness and antioxidant quality with appealing taste that can stimulate and retain loyalty for consumer products....
s" and is identified by DataMonitor as one of the top 10 food categories for growth in 2008.

Alaska Wild Berries

See also

  • List of fruits
  • Epigynous berry
  • Accessory fruit
    Accessory fruit

    An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
  • Aggregate fruit
  • Multiple fruit
    Multiple fruit

    Multiple fruits are fruits that are formed from a cluster of flowers growing on a catkin. Each flower on the catkin produces a fruit , but these mature into a single mass....


External links

  • - Description of berries
  • - Differentiation between true berries, pepos, and hesperidia
  • - Scientists working on the health properties of berries