Welcome to one part of the exhibit on fruits. (The other features fruit trees.) All fruits develop from flowers and contain seeds, insuring that new plants will grow from the old.

Here we display fruits that do not grow on trees, an informal rather than a strictly botanical category. These include bananas and pineapples, both tropical. The banana is actually a giant herb with a soft stem, the pineapple also a soft-stemmed plant that emerges from a low cactus-like growth. Grapes grow on climbing vines, melons appear from vines stretching along the ground. Berries typically grow on small plants or shrubs.