Despite its name, a strawberry is not a true berry. Botanists refer to the strawberry as a pseudocarp or an accessory fruit, as it is actually a multiple fruit consisting of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle. The brownish or whitish specks, which are commonly considered seeds, are the true fruits, called achenes, and each of them surrounds a tiny seed. When achene are broken apart and examined under a microscope, the real seeds are revealed. Botanically speaking, a fruit is only a fruit if its seeds are enclosed in its flesh. Strawberries are inside-out fruits, in that the actual fruit is unprotected by the crimson flesh into which they are embedded.