ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION. 



315 



with those to which we are now about to allude. Apocarpous 

 fruits are also sometimes termed multiple, and this latter term 

 is again applied by others, to those fruits which are the produce 

 of several floAvers. We distinguish three kinds of Apocarpous 

 fruits : — The Follicle, the Achienium, and the Etgerio. 



1. The Follicle. — This is a superior, one-celled, one or many- 

 seeded fruit, dehiscing by the ventral suture only, and conse- 

 quently one-valved {fig. 651). By the latter 

 character it is known at once from the legume, ^,„ ggl_ 

 which opens as Ave have seen by two sutures, 

 and is two-valved; in other respects the two 

 arc alike. In Magnolia glauca {fig. 652), and 

 others, the follicle sometimes opens by the 

 dorsal suture instead of the ventral. Ex- 

 amples occur in the Columbine {figs. 651 

 and 681), Hellebore, Larkspur, Aconite {fig. 

 682), &c., in which the fruit is composed of 

 three or more follicles placed in a circular 

 manner on the thalamus; in the Asclepias, 

 Periwinkle, and Pieony {fig. 683), where each 

 flower generally forms two follicles ; in the 

 Liriodendron, Magnolia, &c. {fig. 652), Avhere 

 they are numerous, and arranged in a spiral 

 manner on a more or less elongated thala- 

 mus. It rarely happens that a floAver pro- 

 duces but a single follicle ; but this sometimes 

 occurs in the Pseony, &c. The tAvo follicles of 

 Asclepias arc more or less united at their base, 

 and the seeds, instead of remaining attached to 



Fig. 681. Follicles 

 of the Columbine 

 {Aquilegia). 



Fig. 682. 



Fig. 683. 



Fio.(ji2. Follicles of tlie \cor\\iQ {A conitnm').. 

 Paeony (.rceonia). 



-Fkj.GSS. Follicles of the 



the A^entral suture, as is the case in the true follicle, lie loose in 

 the cavity of the fruit. This double fruit has therefore receiA-ed 

 the distinctive name of CoJiceptaculum. 



