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Why are pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers, and squash classified as pepos?
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fruit
Ripening apricots on a tree. Apricots are single-seeded drupes.
Pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers, and squash are classified as pepos because they are a specialized type of berry characterized by a hard, tough rind.12
Botanically, a pepo is defined as an indehiscent (meaning it does not split open at maturity), fleshy, one-celled, and many-seeded fruit. These fruits are the characteristic fruit type produced by members of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. While they share the fleshy nature of other berries, the presence of their distinctively hard outer layer distinguishes them from other berry types, such as the leathery-rinded hesperidium found in citrus fruits.1342