In botany, a fruit is a plant structure that contains the plant's seeds.

To a botanist, the word fruit is used only if it comes from the part of the flower which was an ovary. It is an extra layer round the seeds, which may or may not be fleshy. However, even in the field of botany, there is no general agreement on how fruits should be classified. Many do have extra layers from other parts of the flower.

Diagram of flower, cut open, showing the ovary