CLASS PENTANDRIA. 65 



of those aberrations from symmetry which might be 

 presupposed to exist in union with the other devel- 

 oped parts of the flower. Of this rule, as operat- 

 ing on the number of pericarps, we have no bad 

 example in the Asperifoli^e or Rough-leaved plants, 

 of which we shall immediately treat, for here we have, 

 in fact, for fruit, 4 one-seeded, naked, and distinct 

 pericarps succeeding to each flower ; and on the con- 

 fines of this order, in Phacelia, a coalescence of these 

 pericarps so as to form but a single 4-celled, 4-seed- 

 ed capsule. The consistence of the pericarp and 

 its integuments produce differences which, viewed 

 apart, seem more important than they really are ; for 

 example, the bony integument of the fruit of the Asper- 

 iFoLiiE entitles its pericarp to the name ot a nut ; and 

 such integuments are, as may be supposed from their 

 hardness and unyielding texture, extremely prone to 

 promote the abortion of every thing imprisoned within 

 their walls. On the contrary, the pericarp in the 

 Gooseberry and Currant, becoming filled with a soft 

 and yielding pulp, constitutes a berry, and is a con- 

 sistence of the pericarp extremely favorable to the 

 production and perfection of the inclosed seeds. Dry 

 capsules or cases, if not of too hard a texture, also 

 yield to the growing seeds, and are very fertile. The 

 Apple, distinct as it appears as a fruit, differs only 

 from an ordinary capsule, in the accumulation of cel- 

 lular juicy matter within the integuments of the lower 

 part of the calyx. The berry of the Strawberry is 

 only produced by the succulent enlargement of the 

 receptacle ; and, in this respect alone, differs from the 

 genus Potentilla, which has dry seeds seated on a 

 juiceless receptacle. But it is unnecessary to multi- 

 ply examples of these curious, but little i portant, 

 ^bailees which prevail in the vegetable kingdom, and 

 6* 



