146 Plmits and their Ways in Soicth Africa 



B. Fruits formed from a Collection of Flowers. — All 

 fruits thus far described have grown from the centre of a single 

 flower. In the fig the hollowed receptacle bears within its 

 cavity a great number of flowers. In some figs the flowers 

 bear only ovaries ; in others the staminate flowers are borne. 

 It is the work of one very small insect to convey the pollen 

 from one kind of fig to the stigmas in the other. The Agri- 

 cultural Department is introducing the figs with staminate 

 flowers (Caprifigs) into the country (1905). The little wasp 

 is to be brought from California to carry on its special industry 

 in South Africa. Figs will ripen without the wasp and the 

 Caprifig, but they are not such fine fruit. 



In the mulberry several female flowers grow in a head. 

 The blackberry looks something like this fruit, but if the two 

 fruits grow in your district you can see that the blackberry is 

 formed from a single flower, and that the mulberry is a head 

 of imperfect flowers. 



The pineapple is a head of perfect flowers crowded together 

 in a spike. The flowers, with their bracts and the central axis, 

 become juicy. By cultivation the pineapple has lost its seeds. 



