Tag: Botany for beginners

Botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit, while a strawberry is not. This surprising fact highlights the key botanical distinction required to understand what defines a true fruit, which is a plant's mature and ripened ovary.

Over three centuries ago, the scientist Jan van Helmont famously experimented to learn how plants gained weight, discovering that soil was not their primary food source. While the idea that plants eat dirt persists, the truth is that they produce their own sustenance through a complex and elegant process called photosynthesis. In essence, what we might call "food" for a plant is a simple sugar, a carbohydrate synthesized from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

Rice is the staple food for over half of the world's population, yet many people don't know its botanical origin. The part of the plant we refer to as rice is, in fact, the mature, edible seed, also known as a caryopsis. This grain develops from the plant's flower and is harvested for its starchy endosperm, which serves as a vital energy source.