berry (redirected from baccate)

Berry, former province, France

Berry (bĕrē`), former province, central France. Bourges, the capital, and Châteauroux are the chief towns. Cattle are raised on the Champagne Berrichonne, a semiarid plateau that covers most of the region. The valleys of the Indre and the Cher rivers are rich farming areas. A part of Roman Aquitaine, Berry was made a county in the 8th cent., and was purchased (1101) by the French crown. In 1360 it was made a duchy. It was held as an appanage by various royal princes until 1601, when it reverted to the crown.

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berry, in botany

berry: see fruit.

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berry

Simple, fleshy fruit that usually has many seeds (e.g., the banana, tomato, or cranberry). The middle and inner layers of the fruit wall often are not distinct from each other. Any small, fleshy fruit is popularly called a berry, especially if it is edible. Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries are not true berries, but rather aggregate fruits—fruits that consist of multiple smaller fruits. The date is a one-seeded berry whose stone is hard nutritive tissue.

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Berry

Historical region and former province, central France. It was originally inhabited by the Bituriges Cubi, who opposed Vercingetorix. Under Roman rule it was part of Aquitania Prima. A countship in the Carolingian period, it fell to the French crown in the 12th century. When Aquitaine was acquired by Henry II of England, Berry became a matter of dispute between England and France. As a duchy, at one time it came under Jean de France, duke de Berry, an important patron of the arts. It returned to France in 1601 and remained a province until 1790.