ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 3 



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filling the berry, excavated info numerous unequal many'seeded cells. No true partitions but 



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spurious ones, arising from the substance of the placenta, of variable thickness and very fragi'le" 

 or as explained by himself in English " a fleshy receptacle formed by the tube of the "calyx 

 into a undocular berry filled with a spongy placenta, which is hollowed out into a number of 

 irregular cells m which the seeds are placed, the dissepiments being nothing more than thin 

 portions of the placenta. Bon. Edhi. Nezo Fhl. Jour. 1826. 



Fruit large, spherical, crowned by the limb of the calyx, indehiscent; the fruit is the 

 tube of the calyx divided horizontally into two chambers or parts, the upper division .5-9 celled, 

 the lower division 3 celled ; the dissepiments membranous separating the cells; the placentas' 

 of the upper part of the fruit fleshy, reaching from the parietes to the centre ; those of the 

 lower divisions progressing irregularly from the bottom of the fruit." D.C. prod.— Pg. 3. 



On the opposite side Lindley examines the question at great length and is followed by 

 Arnott, who gives a more brief but I think better exposition of the argument on this side than 

 his leader. J subjoin both in full. 



'' The fruit of the Pomegranate is described by Ga^rtner and DeCandolleas being divided 

 into two unequal divisions by a horizontal diaphragm, the upper half of which consists of from , 

 5 to 9 cells, and the lower of 3 ; the cells of both being separated by membranous dissepi-4 

 ments ; the placenta of the upper half proceeding from the back to the centre, and of the 

 lower irregularly from their bottom ; and by Mr. Donas a fleshy receptacle formed by the 

 tube of the caljx into a unilocular berry, filled with a spongy placenta, which is hollowed out 

 into a number of irregular cells. In fact, if a Pomegranate is examined, it will be found to 

 agree more or less perfectly with both these descriptions. But it is clear that a fruit as thus 

 described, is at variance with all the known laws upon which compound fruits are formed. 

 Nothing, however, is more common than that the primitive construction of fruits is obscured 

 by the additions, or suppressions, or alterations, which its parts undergo during their procuress 

 to maturity. Hence it is always desirable to obtain a clear idea of the structure of the ovarium 

 of all fruits which do not obviously agree with the ordinary laws of carpological composition 

 Now, a section of the ovarium of the Pomegranafe in various directions, if made about 

 the time of the expansion of the flowers before impregnation takes place, shews that it xo *u 

 fact composed of two rows of carpella, of which three or four surround the axis, and are placed 

 in the bottom of the tube of the calyx, and a number, varying from five to ten, surround 

 these, and adhere to the upper part of the tube of the calyx. The placenta of these carpella 

 contract an irregular kind of adhesion with the back and front of their cells, and thus give the 

 position ultimately acquirei by the seeds that anomalous appearance which it assumes in the 

 ripe fruit. l[ this view of the structure of the Pomegranate be correct, its peculiarity consists 

 m this, that, in an order the carp^slla of which occupy but a single row around the axis, it pos- 

 --^ses carpella in two rows, the one placed above the other, in consequence of the contraction of 

 e tube of the calyx, from which they arise. Now, there are many instances of a similar 

 anomaly am -ng genera of the .same order, and they exist even among species of the same 

 genus. Kxamples of the latter are, Nicotlana muUhnhm and J^olana paradoxa, and of the 

 former Mnhpe among Malvaceae ; polycarpous Ra?iunculaceae as compared with Niaella, and 

 polycarpous Rosaceae as compared with Spiraea. In Prunus I have seen a monstrous flower 

 producing a number of carpella around the central one, and also in consequence of the situa- 

 tion, upon the calyx above it; and, finally, in the Reuue Encijclopedique (43-7(52), a permanent 

 variety of the apple is described, which is exactly to Pomaceae what Punica is to Myrlaceae. 

 This plant has regularly 14 styles and 14 cells, arranged in two horizmtal parallel planes, 

 namely, 5 m the middle, and 9 on the outside, stnaller and nearer the top ; a circumstance 

 which is evidently to be explained by the presence of an outer series of carpella, and not upon 



IS in 



Omnvm tubo calycis accretiira, api^c liberuin, multiloculare * * * Bacca pomiformis, limbo tubuloso den- 

 tate calycnio, nunc contracto, corouata : cortex crassissimus, extus cuticiila l£Evi rubicunda punctata lucida vestitus 

 intus Kpongioso-carnosus, albus, dciu, matura bacca, fissura irregulaiitcr runipens— Hacenta cortici baccoe subs- 

 tantia sniuUinia, at inagis cuniosa et succulenta, baccam oninino rcplens, in loculis numerosis polysuermis inEccniali- 

 bus reticulatim atqno mterrupte cxcavata. Dmepimcnta vera nulla : spuria taraen adsunt, qua: e substantia placentae 

 orta, valde sunt Iragilia. et crassitie varia." (Don. 1. c.) 



