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A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas.
- Overview
- What’s the Difference Between Fruits and Berries?
- Bananas Are Botanically Berries
- Bananas Are Not Thought of as Berries
- Other Surprising Fruits That Are Also Berries
- The Bottom Line
Fruit are the sweet, seed-holding structures of a flowering plant. There are two types of fruit: Fleshy and dry. Berries are a type of fleshy fruit. Despite popular conception, bananas are actually berries.
Most people can easily tell fruits and vegetables apart.
However, the distinction between different types of fruit is less clear — and you may particularly wonder how a banana should be classified.
This article tells you whether a banana is a fruit or a berry.
The word fruit is used to describe the sweet, fleshy, seed-holding structures of a flowering plant.
A fruit is the reproductive organ of such plants, and its main function is to distribute seeds to new areas where the plant may grow. Fruits can be divided into two main categories: fleshy or dry (1).
Dry fruits are foods we don’t typically think of as fruit, such as nuts, legumes and coconuts.
On the other hand, fleshy fruits are the types we’re accustomed to — common fruits, such as apples, cherries and bananas.
Fleshy fruit can be further subdivided into simple fruits, aggregate fruits or multiple fruits. Berries are a subcategory of simple fleshy fruit (1).
Therefore, all berries are fruit but not all fruits are berries.
As surprising as this may sound, botanically speaking, bananas are considered berries.
The category a fruit falls under is determined by the part of the plant that develops into the fruit. For instance, some fruits develop from flowers containing one ovary while others develop from flowers containing several (1).
What’s more, a fruit’s seeds are surrounded by three main structures:
•Exocarp: The skin or outer part of the fruit.
•Mesocarp: The flesh or middle part of the fruit.
•Endocarp: The Inner part that encloses the seed or seeds.
Many are surprised to learn that bananas are classified as berries.
Most people think of berries as small fruits that can be picked of plants, such as strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. However, botanically, these fruits aren’t considered berries.
That’s because rather than developing from flowers with one ovary, they develop from flowers with multiple ovaries. That is why they’re often found in clusters and categorized as aggregate fruit (3).
On the other hand, bananas and other fruit that fall under the berry classification rarely contain the word “berry” in their name and aren’t typically thought of as berries.
The confusion started when people began calling certain fruits “berries” thousands of years before botanists came up with a precise classification of the different types of fruit.
Though this classification now exists, most people remain unaware of it. To add to the confusion, botanists also sometimes disagree on the exact classification of some fruit (1, 4).
Bananas aren’t the only surprising fruit to fall under the berry subcategory.
Here are other unexpected fruits that are considered berries — botanically speaking (2):
•Tomatoes
•Grapes
•Kiwis
•Avocados
Berries are a subcategory of fruits, the sweet, fleshy, seed-holding structures of a flowering plant.
Bananas develop from a flower with a single ovary and have a soft skin, fleshy middle and small seeds.
16. Mai 2024 · Banana, fruit of the genus Musa, one of the most important fruit crops of the world. The banana is grown in the tropics, and, though it is most widely consumed in those regions, it is valued worldwide for its flavor, nutritional value, and availability throughout the year.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
24. Jan. 2024 · But the banana is a berry, scientifically speaking, as are eggplants, grapes and oranges. So what's the deal? Why are berries so very hard to define?
21. Feb. 2023 · Bananas are among the world’s most commonly consumed fruits. Primarily composed of carbs, they contain decent amounts of several vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
A banana is the common name for a type of fruit and also the name for the herbaceous plants that grow it. These plants belong to the genus Musa. They are native to the tropical region of southeast Asia . Historians think the first people to grow bananas for food lived in Papua New Guinea. [1] .
7. Juli 2023 · Takeaway. Bananas are native to Southeast Asia but now grow in many warm climates around the world. They’re an excellent choice if you’re interested in adding more healthy fruits to your diet....
