The Botanical Classification of Bananas

In the world of plants, bananas are classified as berries, which may come as a surprise to many. Botanically speaking, a berry is a fruit that develops from a single ovary and has multiple seeds embedded within the flesh. Bananas meet this criterion perfectly, as they come from a flower with a single ovary and contain several small seeds. This classification places them in the same category as other fruits like tomatoes and grapes, even though many people wouldn’t typically think of bananas as berries due to their size and shape.

Why Strawberries Are Not Berries

On the other hand, strawberries do not qualify as berries in the botanical sense, despite the name. A true berry is a fleshy fruit that develops from a single ovary, but strawberries are considered aggregate fruits. This means that strawberries develop from a flower with multiple ovaries, each producing a small seed (the tiny yellow specks on the fruit's surface). While they are commonly referred to as berries in culinary terms, their botanical classification is quite different from that of bananas, tomatoes, or grapes. Shutdown123