276 Transactions of the Society. 



The endosperm also is hard. The seeds are generally thrown up 

 uninjured. 



The fruits are generally dark blue, purple, or red, though in 

 some species white (B. pruinosa). It may be suggested that in 

 species where the leaves are deciduous, or remain green, the red 

 fruits would be very conspicuous ; while in those where the leaves 

 put on autumn tints, a blue-black colour would show up better. 

 B. vulgaris, with red berries, is deciduous. B. Aquifolium, B. 

 Dancinii, and B. empetrifolia, with persistent leaves, sometimes 

 turning to orange or bright red, have purple berries. 



Nympil-eaceje. — Of this order we have two genera, Nymphcea, 

 or Caslalia, and Nwphar, the yellow Water-lily. 



The fruit is a berry. The ovary consists of many carpels, 

 united to form as many cells. The ovules are numerous, and 

 scattered over the walls of the cells. They are pendulous and 

 anatropous, and develop into seeds about as large as grains of 

 wheat. The testa is very thick, crustaceous, polished, and shining. 

 The perisperm is white, mealy or floury, and the embryo is minute, 

 lying near the micropyle. In Nymphwa the fruit ripens under water. 



When the fruit is picked to pieces by birds, many of the 

 slippery seeds, no doubt, would escape and float away, or in some 

 cases adhere to the plumage and be carried away. The seeds 

 themselves are heavy, but in Nymphcca the seed is enveloped in 

 an outer coat, or arillus, and between the two is a layer of air, 

 which enables them to float. 



In Nuphar there is no arillus, but the walls of the carpel 

 separate into two layers, of which the inner one, being spongy 

 and charged with air, causes the seeds to float. 



The flowers of the white Water-lily float on the surface of the 

 water among the foliage, and when the stigmas have been pollinated 

 by the visits of various Libellulidpe and other insects, the vase-like 

 ovary is drawn down to the bottom of the water, and in about a 

 month or six weeks bursts, and the seeds, which are contained in 

 a bladder-like vesicle containing air, rise to the surface and are 

 distributed by the action of currents and the wind. The filmy air- 

 vesicles soon decay, the seeds sink to the bottom and are sown in 

 the soft mud and ooze. 



Papavekace^e. — In this family the carpels are, as a rule, con- 

 nate into an ovoid or oblong capsule, or a pod opening either from 

 below upwards (Chclidonium), or from above downwards (Glaucium). 

 In exceptional species, however, the fruit is fleshy, and in Platy- 

 stemon the carpels are distinct. 



In the Poppies the capsules are upright, divided by vertical 

 incomplete septa ; the stigmas are arranged on the summit in rays, 

 and the capsules open by a series of valves beneath these rays 

 (fig. 67). 



The result of this arrangement is that, when the wind blows, 



