Druping Under the Weight of Botanical Knowledge
I’m very glad I recently took an evening class in botany. For one thing, I now know what a drupe is.
You know when you are reading about some plant, say a serviceberry (Amelanchier), and the text says that the fruit is a small drupe? I no longer think that “drupe” is some random typo that sounds vaguely insulting. Now I know that serviceberries have drupes, not berries, and so should properly be called servicedrupes. This is an even worse name than serviceberry, but more accurate botanically, which is what is really important.
Drupes, you see, have a single seed. Berries have multiple seeds. Tomatoes are berries. Really. So are blueberries. To botanists, tomatoes and blueberries are practically indistinguishable, which is why I don’t visit when they are making spaghetti. (Tomatoes are berries botanically, but are vegetables legally as determined by the US Supreme Court in Nix v. Hedden.)
You know what else is a berry? A watermelon. Yup. If you don’t believe me, look it up. Watermelons and other melons are pepos, berries with a hard, thick rind. So on summer picnics we should be enjoying some juicy waterpepo, or waterberry. Oh, and an orange is a hesperidium, a berry with a leathery skin.
Strawberries have multiple seeds, so you might think they are berries. You’d be wrong. A strawberry is an aggregate fruit, because the fleshy part is derived from many ovaries. Each one of the seeds counts as a single fruit called an achene, so the famous Ingmar Bergman movie should be called “Wild Aggregate Achenes.” When I say achene people often respond: “Bless you!”
Peaches and apricots are drupes. Cherries are drupes, so you could say that life is just a bowl of drupes, though that doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Almonds are drupes, not nuts, but hazelnuts are nuts. They just are, OK? Walnuts are a subject of some controversy. Some botanists think they are nuts, but others think they are drupey nuts, or nutty drupes. I am not kidding.
So I am grateful to my botany instructor. I now know that some berries are not berries. I know that other things are berries even though the thought would be absurd to the uninitiated. And while some nuts are nuts, other nuts are not nuts, while still other nuts might or might not be nuts.
And now I have shared this knowledge with you.
You’re welcome.
gardeninacity 
Thank you. Although I now have a headache and will dream of drupes, pepos, and achenes tonight (along with sugarplums). I’m also hungry, so I think some strawberry…er sweet aggregate fruit…jam on toast is in order.
You could also have some cherries. Cherries are drupes, so you could say that life is just a bowl of drupes. Doesn’t sound quite the same, though.
Well thank you for fodder at my net garden club meeting. The Supreme Court reference harkened me back when the ReaganAdministration declared ketchup was a vegetable in school lunch programs to save money.l
The Reagan team was very advanced when it came to botany. Weren’t they the ones who discovered that trees caused air pollution?
Jason, ha,ha 0))! nice lesson. Now I know what’s berry and is not berry. Thank you!
Glad you liked it. Wonder what the word for drupe is in Russian.
you can understand why we all just say berry so much simpler. I enjoyed this post, learnt lots
It’s the job of science to make simple things seem complicated.
I loved everything about this post!
Thank you!
Thoroughly enjoyed this! 🙂
See, botany can be fun.
haha – I bet you will ace the final exam! Berry clever! 😉
I’m not sure the instructor shares my sense of humor.
Thank for the morning laugh! I can’t wait to tell people that watermelons are berries.
Also bananas! Coconuts, in case you’re wondering, are drupes.
This is absolutely amazing! I hope you’ll be taking another class and sharing the outcome with us again 🙂 very enjoyable post!
Actually, I’m working on getting a certificate in garden design, so I have quite a few more classes to go.
Brilliant! I look forward to your next ones 🙂
Thanks for an enlightening, if somewhat nutty, lesson! I am most amazed about the watermelon, which truthfully should be called a waterberry! Botanists must have a lot of fun figuring all of this out.
I think what they enjoy is confusing the rest of us.
My life is now indeed richer after reading this post.
Then my job here is done.
Great explanation. So many terms to remember in botany. Bipinnate vs. composite, bracts vs. petals. It can be confusing at times!
The fruit categories seemed particularly humorous to me.
Brilliant post ! So what are seedless watermelons? Maybe we should ask the Reagons..
Seedless watermelons? Maybe they would be un-berries?
Brilliant post! So what do you call seedless watermelons? Maybe we should ask the Reagans.
Thanks for the reminder. Even though I learned this in Master Gardening school, I always misname and confuse the berries and drupes. Not that I don’t know, just am careless. I agree, drupe is a goofy name.
It’s not even scientific-sounding.
Thanks for the drupes tour. Here’s hoping we don’t let too much information diminish the taste of all this good food. Nah, not a chance. A strawberry will taste as sweet. Cheers!
True, fortunately the taste does not change.
Has your class got onto fruits that develop without pollination such as the glasshouse cucumber? Botany is really interesting.
I remember something about violets developing seeds without pollination, but I’m not sure. It was a pretty basic class.
Thanks for the lesson! I am starting to study a bit of extra plant biology myself. Looking forward to some more lessons!
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Thank you! I feel relieved and enlightened now I have learned what is/is not what… 😉
You’re welcome. Doesn’t that make all your fruit seem more delicious?
I’m going to have to read and re-read this post in several sittings since it’s all a bit too much to take in at once. Even then I’ll probably have forgotten it by next week! I feel like I should be taking notes, will there be a short quiz?
I love this post! Well, I love gardeners with a sense of humor who write about botany. Fabulous.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Reblogged this on gardeninacity and commented:
A recent cartoon by the talented JL Westover, plus the general holiday merriment, has inspired me to reblog this post from December, 2012. Hope you like it.
This is great! Thanks for the informative and humorous post. Now I’m headed to the library…
Always a fun place to go.
How confusing! 😉
But fascinating!
My head hurts now….but you made me smile.
Then the pain is worth it.
This was very entertaining, and confusing! Thanks for reposting here.
You’re welcome.
Who runs this language, anyway?
Botanists, apparently.
Now the question is, can you remember it? I can’t. I have to look it up frequently.
Well, I can remember some of it.
It’s all a little nuts. Unless it’s an aggregate fruit. Berry berry confusing. Must go to Stonehenge and ask an ancient drupid. Loved this post!
You’re berry welcome.
Great fun, I am all berried out or was it druped out???????
Or are you going nuts?
It’s quite possible whoever came up with all these classifications are the true nuts!
Unless they are drupes.
Ha ha, brilliant. I remember the revelation about berries, drupes, etc, when I studied for my Cert in Horticulture. Botany is fascinating. And can be confusing.
Brilliant indeed. What a great way to learn some botanical terms. Methinks that you may have written this tongue-in-cheek or perhaps with a drupe in your cheek. One can only hope you didn’t gag on the stone.
A drupe or two in cheek could be quite pleasant, actually.
Niall is eager to learn: What are nuts? Besides you after that botany class.
I beg your pardon. I am not a nut. Nuts are seeds with a hard shell that does not open at maturity.