01). XV.] THE SEED. 91 



promiscuously through the pulpy substance, but are more gene- 

 rally placed upon receptacles within the pulp. A compound 

 berry consists of several single berries, each containing a seed t 

 united together ; as in the blackberry and raspberry. Each of 

 the separate parts is called an acinus, or giain. The orange 

 and lemon are berries with a thick coat. 



371. There are some kinds of berries, usually so called, that 

 seem scarcely entitled to the name ; in these the pulp is not 

 properly a part of the fruit, but originates from some other or- 

 gan ; thus in the mulberry and strawberry the calyx becomes 

 coloured and very juicy, surrounded by seeds like a real berry. 

 Some botanists in describing the strawberry, say that what is 

 commonly called the berry, is but a pulpy receptacle, studded 

 \vith naked seeds. In the fig, the whole fruit is a juicy calyx, 

 or common receptacle, containing in its cavity innumerable flo- 

 rets, each of which has a proper calyx of its own, which be 

 comes pulpy, and invests the seed, as in the mulberry. 



372. 9th. STROBILUM, a cone ; is a Catkin or Ament hardened 

 and enlarged into a seed vessel, as in the pine ; this is called 

 an aggregate, or compound pericarp. In the most perfect ex- 

 amples of this kind of fruit the seeds are closely enveloped by 

 the scales as by a capsule. The Strobilum is oblong in the 

 pine, round in the cypress, very small in the alder and birch. 



When you eat fruit, as almonds, walnuts, apples, peaches, 

 currants, &c., you will no doubt be pleased to be able to give 

 them their proper place in the classes you have just been con- 

 sidering. 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Seed. 



We have now traced the plant from the root through all its 

 various organs, until we have arrived at that part, which is a 

 link in the chain of vegetable existence between the old and 

 new plant ; if this were destroyed, if the seeds of plants were 

 no longer perfected, what changes would the whole face of na- 

 cure present ! 



373. The earth would in one year be stripped of the whole 



371. What is said of the blackberry, strawberry, mulberry, and 



figl 



372. Describe the strubilum. 



373. What appearances would natuic present if seeds were DO longei 

 perfected 1 



