FOOD NEWS
How Watermelons Can Be Both Fruits And Vegetables
By Gregory Lovvorn
People have been debating whether or not watermelons are considered to be fruits or vegetables for ages, yet they still can't seem to come to a consensus. If you've been arguing that watermelons are a fruit, you're correct — but just because you're right doesn't mean everyone else is wrong.
Per the Encyclopedia Britannica, fruits are a flowering plant's mature ovary (egg) produced after fertilization, “are sweet and either succulent or pulpy," and enclose the plant's seeds. Watermelons can be considered fruits because they reproduce from male and female flowers, and it's only the fertilized eggs that grow into sweet and succulent watermelons.
Encyclopedia Britannica defines vegetables as "fresh edible portions of certain herbaceous plants — roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, or seeds," and watermelons belong to the genus Citrullus, all of which are herbaceous plants. So there you have it, watermelons are factually both a fruit and a vegetable, leaving us to wonder what other fruits are disguised as vegetables.