Popular belief that botanists call watermelons berries. Actually from the scientific point of view it is tykvina which really have much in common with berries. Fruits of a melon belong to the same class, as well as all other representatives of family of pumpkin.
What is berry?
In life berries call any small fruits with juicy pulp: carry cherry, strawberry, raspberry, a dogrose to them though from the botanical point of view they them are not. So, the dogrose and strawberry are false berries, raspberry is a stone fruit. And larger fruits seldom are associated with berries though can be considered as them in botany: it is tomato, an eggplant, a kiwi.
Berry is a fruit with a thin skin, a set of seeds with a firm seed peel, a juicy mezhplodnik. Berries develop from the top and lower ovaries: in some cases from above on them there is a dried-up perianth (currant).
False berries call such fruits which have the same structure, but receptacles are formed not only of an ovary, but also of other parts, for example.
Watermelon
Popular belief that watermelon, despite the sizes, is berry. In structure the watermelon fruit really answers all signs: has juicy pulp, a set of seeds with a firm cover, firm and rather thin skin. But nevertheless it has some differences because of what botanists do not carry it to berries. Watermelons are the tykvina having similar morphological features, but some essential distinctions. Tykvina are formed of the lower ovary and consist of three carpels. They are mnogosemyanna, as well as berries, but in them it is even more seeds. Also they distinguish structure of an okoloplodnik: they have an external layer, too firm in comparison with berries, the fleshy center and soft internal. Tykvina can grow to the big sizes, it is always less berry.
Melon
Because the melon has more dense pulp, it is not called berry though these fruits in structure are almost identical to watermelon. These are tykvina too: they have a huge number of seeds, quite dense, firm cover and the fleshy center. Tykvinami are also many other fruits which in life can be called in a different way: for example, cucumbers it is tykvina too.
There is an easy way to define whether the fruit is tykviny or not: it is necessary to learn to what family the plant belongs. All representatives of family pumpkin give not berries, but a tykvina.
Tykvina call yagodovidny fruits because of similarity with berries, it is also worth distinguishing apples from berries. From the botanical point of view yagodovidny mnogosemyanny fruits of plants of family apple-tree so are called: quince, pear, kizilnik, rowan. Unlike a tykvina or berry at them a leathery vnutriplodnik in whom there are seeds, and a thin skin very thin.