NATURE OF THE FRUIT. 295 
immediately after the ovule, as these two organs are, in like 
manner, only different conditions of one body. 
NaTuRE OF THE FRuit.—After the process of fertilisation 
has been effected, important changes take place in the pistil and 
surrounding organs of the flower, the result of which is the 
formation of the fruit. The fruit consists essentially of the 
mature ovary or ovaries, containing the fertilised ovule or 
ovules, which are then termed seeds. The styles and stig- 
mas mostly disappear, but the remains of 
the style frequently exist in the form of 
a little point on the fruit, which is then 
commonly described as apicilar. Some 
traces indeed of the style may be usually 
observed, by which we are enabled to dis- 
tinguish small fruits from seeds ; thus the 
fruits of the species of Ranwniculus, those 
of Labiate plants, the Boraginaceze, Umbel- 
liferze, and others, may be in this way 
commonly known from seeds. Generally 
speaking, however, the style forms but a 
very small portion of the fruit, the greater 
part of it, together with the stigma, dying 
away soon after the process of fertilisation 
has been effected ; but in some cases the 
style is not only persistent but continues to 
grow, and it then forms a lengthened ap- 
pendage to the fruit, as in the Traveller’s- 
joy (fig. 657), and in the Pasque-flower 
(fig. 700). The style in these two cases is 
also hairy, and hence the fruit is called 
caudate or tailed. : 
Although the fruit may thus be de- la aaa an 
scribed as consisting essentially of the  Véalda). This fruit is 
mature ovary or ovaries, other parts of the Syed au Achantams 
flower are also frequently present, and en- 
ter into its composition. Thus, in those cases where the calyx 
is adherent to the ovary, as in the Apple, Quince (fig. 473), 
Pear, Melon, and Gooseberry, it necessarily forms a part of the 
fruit ; in the Rose the concave thalamus (fig. 454, r, 7), which 
bears the carpels on its inner surface, and the adherent calyx- 
tube, ct, become a portion of the fruit; in the Strawberry (jig. 
661), the fruit consists of the succulent hemispherical thalamus, 
bearing the carpels on its convex surface ; in the Acorn (fig. 
400), Hazel-nut (jig. 401), and Filbert, it consists of pistil, 
calyx, and bracts, combined together ; while in the Pineapple 
(fig. 292), it is formed of the ovaries, floral envelopes, and 
bracts of several flowers ; in the Fig also (jig. 406) we have 
a fruit produced by a number of separate flowers enclosed in a 
hollow fleshy receptacle. These examples, and a number of 
