Berry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Berry (disambiguation).

Four fruits that are true berries (size not to scale). Clockwise from right:
Concord grapes, persimmon, red gooseberries, red currants (top)

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary, such as a grape. The seeds are usually embedded in the flesh of the ovary. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous, and a berry-like fruit is said to be baccate.

In everyday English, "berry" is a term for any small edible fruit. These "berries" are usually juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit, although many seeds may be present.

Many berries, such as the tomato, are edible, but others in the same family, such as the fruits of the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and the fruits of the potato (Solanum tuberosum) are poisonous to humans. Some berries such as Capsicum have space rather than pulp around their seeds.

[edit] Types of berries

[edit] True berries

Several types of common "berries", only one of which (the blueberry) is a berry by botanical definition. Blackberries are aggregate fruit composed of many drupelets, and strawberries are aggregate accessory fruit.

In botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and pulp produced from a single ovary; the ovary can be inferior or superior.

Examples of true berries include

[edit] Modified berries

The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a berry with a thick rind and very juicy interior that is given the special name hesperidium. The fruit of cucumbers, melons and their relatives in the family Cucurbitaceae are berries that are given the special name of pepo.

[edit] Not a botanical berry

Many fruits commonly referred to as berries are not actual berries by the scientific definition, but fall into one of these categories:

[edit] Drupes

Drupes are fleshy fruits produced from a (usually) single-seeded ovary with a hard stony layer (called the endocarp) surrounding the seed.

• Plum
• Peach
• Hackberry (Celtis spp.; Cannabaceae)

[edit] Pomes

The pome fruits produced by plants in subtribe Pyrinae of family Rosaceae, such as apples and pears, have a structure (the core) that clearly separates the seeds from the ovary tissue. However, some of the smaller pomes are sometimes referred to as berries. Bright red haws (Crataegus) are sometimes called hawberries. Amelanchier pomes become so soft at maturity that they resemble a blueberry and are known as Juneberries or Saskatoon berries.

[edit] Compound fruits

Compound fruits are groups or aggregates of multiple parts, and include:

• Aggregate fruits, which contain seeds from different ovaries of a single flower. Examples include blackberry, raspberry, and bayberry.
• Multiple fruits, include the fruits of multiple flowers, that are merged or packed closely together. The mulberry is a berry-like example of a multiple fruit; it develops from a cluster of tiny separate flowers that become compressed as they develop into fruit^[1].

[edit] Accessory fruits

• In accessory fruits, the edible part is not generated by the ovary. Berry-like examples include the strawberry in which the aggregate of seed-like achenes is actually the "fruit", derived from an aggregate of ovaries, and the fleshy part develops from the receptacle.

[edit] Color and medicinal benefits

By contrasting in color with their background, berries are more attractive to animals that eat them, and they therefore aid in the dispersal of the plant's seeds.

Berry colors are due to natural plant pigments. Many are polyphenols such as the flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannins localized mainly in berry skins and seeds. Berry pigments are usually antioxidants and thus have oxygen radical absorbance capacity ("ORAC") that is high among plant foods.^[2] Together with good nutrient content, ORAC distinguishes several berries within a new category of functional foods called "superfruits".

Alaska wild "berries" from the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Berries

• List of culinary fruits
• List of inedible fruits
• Accessory fruit
• Aggregate fruit
• Multiple fruit
• Drupe

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens – Description of berries
• Encarta.msn.com (Archived 2009-10-31) – Differentiation between true berries, pepos, and hesperidia
• United States National Berry Crops Initiative
• Berry Health Benefits Network – Scientists working on the health properties of berries