[bubs]

my 8 year old just asked me is a tomatoe a fruit or a veg , i instantley said a veg and then she looked puzzled and said her teacher said a fruit , and now im puzzled because i am beginning to think its a fruit  .
this is one of them questions that could split a pub full of non gardeners thats for sure , please tell me the answer i am now going for a fruit .

[Yabba]

It's a fruit

„

[Yorkie]

It is indeed botanically a fruit  

But owing to its use in the savoury side of things, it is generally accepted into the vegetable family as an honorary veg

[bubs]

It's a fruit

„
yabba dabba do , thanks i will sleep peacefully tonight now 

[DD.]

And rhubarb is, of course, a vegetable.

[Stree]

and just to add to the confusion, Banana is a herb.

[catllar]

if banana is a herb, then what are the little black bits inside?? aren't they seeds?

[penance]

The banana plant 'may' be classed as a herb, but the banana itself is the fruiting body.
Hence a banana is a fruit, as is tomato.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Avocados are also a fruit but the vanilla bean comes from an orchid!

[Salmo]

Vanilla beans must therefore be fruits. As must peas, beans, courgettes and squashes as they come from flowers and contain seeds.

Maybe we should just ask if it is eaten for firsts or afters?

[aelf]

does it matter? It all goes down the same way and tastes great when you've grown it yourself! 

[catllar]

sorry about this Stree, but WHY is a banana a herb and what makes a herb a herb?  I think this is fascinating!

[Stree]

Actually its both:
 A banana (the yellow thing you peel and eat) is undoubtedly a fruit (containing the seeds of the plant)  though since commercially grown banana plants are sterile, the seeds are reduced to little specks. However, the banana plant, though it is called a 'banana-tree' in popular usage, is technically regarded as a herbaceous plant (or 'herb'), not a tree, because the stem does not contain true woody tissue.

[catllar]

Haha ! In that case , is a palmtree also a herb, cos it's got a fibrous trunk , not yer proper wood??

[joyfull]

found this definaition of a herb on your dictionary .com
herb (ʉrb, hʉrb)

noun

1.any seed plant whose stem withers away to the ground after each season's growth, as distinguished from a tree or shrub whose woody stem lives from year to year
2.any plant used as a medicine, seasoning, or flavoring: mint, thyme, basil, and sage are herbs

Therefor a palm tree is just that - a tree as each year it doesn't wither away to the ground