= Aggregate fruit
An <aggregate fruit> develops from several separate <carpels> of a single <flower>, producing a collection of individual fruit units. The number of original <flowers> is crucial: a <multiple fruit> involves several <flowers>, whereas an <aggregate fruit> starts with one.<Glossary of Botanical Terms by PlantNET>[Aggregate-fruit examples and Figure18V–Z: aggregate versus multiple arrangements]{ref}
A <strawberry> makes the arrangement tangible. Its surface bears numerous <achenes>, each an individual dry <fruit>, supported by the enlarged fleshy <receptacle (botany)>. The familiar edible object therefore combines many fruit units with tissue outside the individual ovaries.<Genome-scale transcriptomic insights into early-stage fruit development in woodland strawberry Fragaria vesca by Chunying Kang and others>[Abstract and Introduction: separate achenes on the enlarged receptacle]{ref}
For a simple counting example, a single <flower> with twenty separate fertile <carpels> could produce twenty fruit units in one aggregate if each develops successfully. The count follows the separate <carpels>, not twenty separate <flowers>. <Aggregate fruit> and <accessory fruit> consequently describe different properties: the former concerns the collection of units, while the latter concerns contributions from non-ovarian tissue.
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