294 CARPOPHORE—-GYNOPHORE.—THE FRUIT. 
essential modifications. In the species of Magnolia, Lirioden- 
dron, and plants of the order Magnoliacee generally, the 
thalamus is cylindrical (fig. 604, a); in plants also of the order 
Anonacez, it usually acquires a somewhat similar form ; in the 
Raspberry (jig. 606, 1), and species of Ranunculus (fig. 542) it 
is conical; in the Strawberry (jig. 605) hemispherical; in 
Nelumbium (fig. 654, thal) itis a large tabular expansion, in which 
there are a number of cavities containing the separate carpels. 
In the Rose it forms a concavity upon which the carpels are placed 
(fig. 454, r, 1). 
In the Primulacez, Santalacez, and in all cases where the 
placenta is free from the wall of the ovary from its earliest 
appearance, the thalamus becomes prolonged into the cavity of 
the ovary and forms the placenta ( fig. 635). At other times the 
thalamus becomes prolonged beyond the ovary, as in the Gera- 
niacezeand Umbelliferz ; this prolongation is termed acarpophore. 
In the species of Geranium (fig. 640, c), this carpophore forms 
a long beak-like process to which the carpels, car, are attached, 
and from which they separate when the fruit is ripe. In many 
cultivated flowers, as in the Rose, the thalamus will frequently 
acquire a monstrous development, and become extended beyond 
the flower into a branch bearing foliage leaves (jig. 655). To this 
prolongation of the axis beyond the flower the term median pro- 
lification is usually applied. 
In some plants the thalamus becomes prolonged beyond 
the calyx, and forms a stalk to the ovary, to which the term 
gynophore has been applied ; and upon this stalk the stamens 
are also commonly placed, and in some cases the petals as well. 
Examples of this may be seen in some of the Capparidacez 
(fig. 656, thal); in the Pink (fig. 602, g), Dictamnus (fig. 
624, g), and Xanthoxylon (fig. 608, g). This prolongation or 
stalk of the ovary is by some considered to be formed by the 
union of the petioles of the carpellary leaves of which that ovary 
is composed. 
Section 5. The Fruit. 
WE have already seen that the ovary has in its interior one 
or more little oval or roundish bodies called ovules, which ulti- 
mately by fertilisation from the pollen become the seeds (page 
19); their description, therefore, in a regular arrangement, 
should follow that of the ovary. It is, however, far more con- 
venient to examine, in the first place, the nature and general 
characters of the fruit, as this is composed essentially of the 
mature ovary or ovaries, and its description comes therefore 
naturally at the present time, when the details connected with 
the ovary are fresh in our memories. Such an arrangement has, 
also, the further advantage of enabling us to describe the seed 
