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Old 15-10-2004, 07:00 PM
Alfred Falk
 
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Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote in
:

Hi, Everybody,

While this might sound absurdly obvious, this question
is *not* a troll.

Technically speaking, what is the difference between a
fruit and a vegetable?

I looked it up at

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fruit

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=vegetable

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gourd

But it isn't quite clear.

I know that apples, oranges, bananas, and tomatoes are
considered fruits.

I *think* that lettuce, spinach, broccoli, couliflower
are vegetables.

But what about capsicum (bell pepper),
courgettes/zucchini, or cucumbers? I always thought
that they were vegetables, but they have seeds in them.
Are they technically fruit? What distinguishes a
gourd?


Can anyone tell me the plain-english rule on this?


You've already got some good answers on this, but I'll add my own 2
cents. The "problem" arises because we have two different usage
systems:
1. "ordinary English", where the distinction between f & v has mostly to
do with how we use the material, rather than plant physiology.
2. "Scientific botanical English" where the distinction between f & v is
strictly based on plant physiology.

Sometimes the two coincide, sometimes they don't. The conflict "is a
tomato a fruit or vegetable?" is artificial.

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