The botanical definition of a berry is a simple fruit produced from a single ovary, such as a grape or a tomato. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary formed by the fusion of two or more carpels.

The seeds are embedded in the flesh of the ovary. However, in everyday English, a berry is a 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, 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. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous. In false berries, like blueberries and cranberries, the fruit is formed from other parts of the flower in addition to the ovary.

Although referred to as berries in common language, aggregate fruits like raspberries are also not true berries but collections of small drupes, and accessory fruits like strawberries are formed from parts of the plant other than the ovary. As explained in below, none of these is a true berry.

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