The tiny yellow or brown dots on the outside of a strawberry are not naked seeds: each is a small dry fruit called an achene, with a seed inside. The sweet red part is mostly enlarged flower tissue called the receptacle. This unusual arrangement is why a strawberry looks different from most familiar fruits.
How can a strawberry have so many little fruits?
A strawberry flower contains many separate female structures. When pollination and fertilization occur, each fertilized ovary can mature into its own achene. Meanwhile, the flower’s receptacle—the base that holds those structures—swells into the juicy red part. Those two kinds of tissue grow together, creating the strawberry we buy and eat.
A medium garden strawberry often bears around two hundred achenes, though the actual number varies with the variety, the fruit’s size, and how successfully the flower was pollinated. The pattern can be uneven if some parts of the flower were not pollinated well.
Does that mean a strawberry is not a true berry?
In everyday cooking, strawberries are berries, of course. Botanically, however, a true berry develops from the ovary of a single flower and has its seeds enclosed in fleshy tissues. Grapes and blueberries fit that definition. Strawberries are generally called aggregate accessory fruits because they combine many separate achenes with enlarged non-ovary flower tissue.
A botanist interviewed by Live Science explains the contrast between the tiny fruits and the swollen receptacle.
Why are some strawberries knobby or lopsided?
The achenes do more than decorate the outside. Developing achenes produce chemical signals that help stimulate nearby receptacle growth. If pollination is incomplete, some areas may expand less than others and the berry can look misshapen. This is one reason growers value effective pollinators and suitable growing weather.
Uneven fruit shape can also relate to temperature stress, injury and plant conditions. A lopsided strawberry is not automatically unsafe or a sign that anything has been added to it.
Can you grow a new strawberry plant from those dots?
Yes, a viable seed inside an achene can germinate, but seedlings may not have the same traits as the parent plant, especially when the variety is a hybrid. Gardeners often propagate strawberries through runners instead, producing new plants genetically like the parent. That is generally the easier way to keep a favorite variety.
FAQ
Are strawberry achenes edible? Yes. People normally eat them along with the red flesh; there is no need to remove them.
Are the achenes what make a strawberry crunchy? The little achenes contribute some texture, but the exact feel also depends on the fruit’s ripeness and variety.
Why do strawberries bruise easily? The swollen receptacle is delicate, moist tissue. For more fruit science, see why blueberries have a naturally white waxy coating.
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