CARPOLOGY. 



45 



serviceable for other purposes, so that 

 their death depends rather upon the per- 

 formance of their individual function tlian 

 upon fertilization. lu proterogynous flow- 

 ers this function is actually stimulated by 

 the completion of fertilization in their own 

 flower. 



the course of fructification, upon either 

 pericarp or seeds, just as special append- 

 ages develop upon the flora] organs for 

 performing special functions iu connection 

 witli pollination. . That such additional 

 parts exhibit little, if any, development 

 during the floral stage, is due to the faot 



Upon the other hand, we are not certain ^hat an enormous waste of energy on the 



of a requisition in every case for the 

 preservation and development of any part 

 other than the particular ovules which 

 become fertilized, the ovarian walls of the 

 pistil or pistils containing them (and in 



— a 



some cases only a part of these), and of 

 the torus. The death or decay, therefore, 

 of any or all of the other parts will be de- 

 termined by the individual or class habit 

 of the plant concerned. To any part othor 

 than the ovary itself which thus develops 

 and enlarges as a part of the fruit, the 

 term Accrescent is applied. Fruits of 

 which such accrescent parts form the con- 

 spicuous portion are called Accessary 



fruits. 



Finally we must note that new parts, of 

 service in the fruit, frequently develop in 



part of the plant would thus be involved. 

 Of all the flowers produced by a plant only 

 a minor portion usually accomplish fruc- 

 tification, and of all the ovules produ.^ed 

 by any gynaecium only a minor portion 

 produce seeds. The development of these 

 superfl\ious flowers and ov'ules constitutes 

 in itself a serious waste, but it is a neces- 

 sary or, upon the whole, an economical 

 one, as it tends in the end to secure the 

 full degree of fructification by the plant. 

 The development, however, upon such su- 

 pei-fluous flowers or ovules, of parts which 

 will be of value only in case fructification 

 is effected, would be anything but eco- 

 nomical. Hence, the general rule that 

 parts of the fruit which are of no use in 

 effecting pollination and fertilization we 

 not developed until after these functions 

 are performed. 



There are two distinct senses in which 

 the term "fruit" may be employed. In 

 the first instance, we may regard it as ^he 

 structural product of the development in 

 fructification of a pistil, or in the second 

 as an organ performing a certain repro- 

 ductive function or fuuctions. The limi- 

 tations of our definition of the term will 

 vary accordingly. 



In many cases the ripened gynaecium 

 performs or may perform the fruit func- 

 tion entire, as in the cherry, the straw- 

 berry, the blueberry, the so-called "sead 

 of the sunflower, and the pod of the bean 

 or digitalis. In such cases the solitary 

 ripened carpel (cherry^and bean) or the ag- 

 gregation of ripened carpels (as in the 

 other illustrations), of a gynoecium, con- 

 Btitutes the fruit, from either point of 

 view. In other cases a number of carpels 

 of a gynoecium are separate from first to 

 last as pistils, as in the case of the butter- 

 cup. The entire collection then consti- 

 tutes a fruit, being the product of a flowar, 

 but each of the individual pistils must 

 also, from a physiological standpoint, be 

 regarded as a fruit, inasmuch as it per- 

 forms the fruit function Independently. 



ff 



