194 



THE KOSE FAMILY. 



the flower in the normal species, is the ground of the term "rosaceous," 

 applied to corollas. (Fig. 131.) 



The fruits of the Rosaceaj are diversified very curiously. The 

 Spiraeas have little, whorled, many-seeded follicles. Those of the 

 roses are small, dry, hard, and hairy achenia, enclosed in the urn- 

 like half of the calyx, which constitutes their permanent envelope, and 

 becomes succulent and red, the whole being called a " hip." In the 

 strawberry the receptacle swells enormously while the ovaries are 

 ripening, and forms a juicy cushion, on which they appear seated like 

 minute yellow seeds. (Fig. 130.) In the blackben-y and the rasp- 

 berry the receptacle remains dry, but enlarges into a white and 

 spongy cone, the ovaries now taking their turn to become juicy, and 

 crowding its surface in the shape of little beads, that adhere by their 

 edges. (Fig. 132.) Lastly, in the cinquefoils and theii- allies, both 

 receptacle and ovaries are dry, as if the raspbeny had exchanged its 

 juicy grains for the hard and bony achenia of the strawberry, the 

 succulence altogether or nearly dispensed with. In these latter it 

 often happens that the carpels are provided with long hairy tails, like 

 those of the Clematis and the pasque-flower, suggesting further com- 

 parison with the Ranunculacea3 ; as the Spiraeas do in their follicles, 

 when we think of the columbine and larkspur ; and as the Potentillas 

 do, in their heads of dry achenia, when placed alongside of the crowfoot 

 and the wood-anemone. 



Fig. 130. 

 StrawbeiTy. 



Fig. i.n. 

 Rosaceous flower. 



Fig. 132. 

 Blackberry. 



The prickles of the Rosacea;, or of roses and brambles, are quite 

 a diflerent thing from the spines of the sloe and the thorns of the 

 berbery, which differ also one from the other. A shrub or tree i8 

 " armed," as botanists call it, in several different ways. Sometimes a 

 twig ceases from its onward growth, and tapers oft' to a sharp point, 

 forming a spear, which is continuous with the stem, and inseparable 

 from it, except by amputation. This is the case with the sloe, the 



