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Mon 24 Jan, 2011 10:22 am
What is the Botanical Differences between FRUITS and VEGETABLES????????
How can we differentiate both of them ????????????
Is TOMATO a fruit or Vegetable??????? and WHY???????????
Fruits are plants which bear a structure which contains seeds. That is sufficiently vague, of course, but is still a useful definition. Vegetables are, on the other hand, edible plants which do not bear seeds (allegedly). Vegetable is not a scientific term. Tomatoes are, in these loose terms, fruits, because the plant bears a structure (which we call the tomato) which contains seeds.
Neither of these terms is entirely scientific, and the definition of fruit is less than universally useful. Some fruits, such as sttawberries, both produce a structure which bears seeds, and spreads using runners, structures which branch out from the original root to produce yet another plant.
If you're doing your science homework, either the very simple and not entirely useful definitions will suit you--or you're screwed.
@Setanta,
Isnt the word "fruit" primarily a technical botanical term implying a fruiting body which contains the seeds or is the seed itself?.
Whereas vegetable is a definition of a food.
A "fruiting body" of a plant can be a vegetable or a fruit. A potato is a fruiting body of the plant yet it is a vegetable. Rhubarb is a stem of a plantbut is it a fruit or a vegetable?
I need some grapes