Strawberries carry their tiny yellow seeds on the outside of the red fruit people eat.

The longer version

Botanically, the red part of a strawberry is a swollen receptacle, the base of the flower that grew large and soft as the fruit developed. The small yellow dots pressed into its surface are the true fruits, each one holding a single seed inside a hard coat.

That arrangement explains the texture and the way the surface wears. Each tiny unit is a separate dry fruit attached to the fleshy base, so the whole thing counts as an aggregate. The swelling base exists to attract animals, which carry the small hard units away and deposit them elsewhere.

Where this entry sits

Plants and Trees gathers ordinary and surprising details about how green things live, from the tallest forest giants down to the moss on a garden wall. Expect notes on flowers, seeds, roots, leaves, fungi, and the quiet tricks plants use to spread and survive. The full list sits on the Plants and Trees page, where every entry is listed in order.