In botany, fleshy fruits are fruits which are fleshy and brightly coloured, making them attractive to animals which eat them and disperse the seeds. The word 'succulent fruit' is synonymous to fleshy fruit and both words are often used interchangeably.
Fruits can be classed as fleshy fruits or dry fruits based on their pericarp. Anatomically, fleshy fruits have a fleshy pericarp which is divided in three layers: an outermost exocarp or epicarp, a middle mesocarp and the innermost endocarp.
In botany, dry fruits are fruits which have a hard, dry pericarp around their seeds, these commonly disperse via wind with help of 'wings' and 'parachutes' or via animals with help of hooks which latch on animal fur or when seeds are consumed by the animals. They are different from fleshy fruits based on their dry pericarp, in which the exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp aren't clearly distinguishable from each other.
In common language, dry fruits may also refer to dried fruits and nuts.
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.
The common usage of the term "berry" is different from the scientific or botanical definition of a berry, which refers to a fleshy fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower where the outer layer of the ovary wall develops into an edible fleshy portion (pericarp). The botanical definition includes many fruits that are not commonly known or referred to as berries, such as grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bananas, and chili peppers. Fruits commonly considered berries but excluded by the botanical definition include strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which are aggregate fruits, and mulberries, which are multiple fruits. Watermelons and pumpkins are giant berries that fall into the category "pepos". A plant bearing berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate.