I trust you saw my message about the Japanese raisin tree and other "fruity"
tasting plant organs which are not technically fruits, like strawberries.
Another example is the cyconium, that fascinating invention of the genus Ficus,
which is actually the entire inflorescence turned inside out. The fruits
themselves are insignificant little things on the inside which contain the tiny
seeds, if there are any.

I strongly doubt that sugar (sweet) is the main determinant of whether
something tastes fruity. This is an assertion I've seen before, though, and I
don't understand why.
Adding sugar to tomatoes, cucumbers, or squash doesn't make them taste fruity.


I think you would have to ask a food chemistry specialist about this. It is
beyond the scope of ordinary botany.
Have you tasted grape tomatoes? They contain a lot of sugar, and to me they
taste borderline "fruity."

Juniper berries sound familiar, but it is a long time since I last looked at
a juniper plant up close. Without a photo, it is hard to imagine how a cone
can look like a berry.

Junipers are found all over the world. I suggest you go and look at one.
Failing that, you can find pictures on the Web. A
HREF="http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Juni_
com.html"Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary/A
shows pictures of dried juniper berries & unripe ones on the plant. In the
genus Juniperus, the female cone, when fertilized, develops a fleshy coating
with one or more seeds inside. Of course it is a fruit. Where do you think the
Magnoliophyta (flowering plants) got the idea? Your comparison of bat wings and
bird wings is an apt analogy. There are a few other conifer genera with tasty
fleshy fruits.
Technically, the yew berry is not a cone, but an aril, a seed coat. I don't
recommend eating it. Birds safely eat yew berries because they do not digest
the seeds, which are highly poisonous.

Are you saying that nobody plants oak trees with the intention of eventually
harvesting acorns from them?

I have never heard of it. Acorns are not useful as food for humans, because
eating too many damages the kidneys. Besides, it probably takes years for an
oak tree to produce a sizeable number of acorns.

I'm writing mainly for people who are familiar with fruits they find in
grocery stores, and will likely never go far beyond that. If it looks like a
fruit, smells like a fruit, tastes like a fruit, and is in the fruit section of
the produce department, they will say that it probably *is* a fruit. BRBR

So what is your point?
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)