316 



ORGANOGRAPHY. 



2. The Achcenium is a superior, one-celled, one-seeded fruit, 

 with a dry indehiscent pericarp, which is separable from the 

 seed, although closely applied to it. Linnt^us mistook some 

 of these achaiuia for seeds, and called the plants producing 

 them, gymnosperms (naked-seeded). They may be, however, 

 generally distinguished from seeds, by presenting on some points 

 of their surface the remains of ihe style. This style is sometimes 

 very evident, as in the Clematis (Jig. 646), and Anemone {fig. 



684). Examples may 

 Fig. 684. Fig. 685. ^^ ^^^^ i^ the Clematis 



and Anemone, and in 

 the plants of the orders 

 Labiata; (fig. 594), and 

 Boraginere (fig. 685). 

 In rare cases we find a 

 flower producing but a 

 single achjjenium. 



3. The Etcerio. — 

 When the acha;nia 

 borne by a single flower 

 are so numerous that 

 they form more than 

 a single whorl or series, 

 they constitute collec- 

 tively an etcprio. Ex- 

 amples may be seen in 

 the Ranunculus (fig. 

 530), and Adcmis (fig. 

 592), where tbe achae- 

 nia are placed upon a 

 convex thalamus of a dry nature; and in the Strawberry (fig. 

 645), where they are placed upon a fleshy thalamus; hence, in 

 tlie Strawberry, the so-called seeds, are in reality so many sepa- 

 rate achajnia, while the part to wliich the Strawberry owes its 

 value as a fruit is the succulent thalamus. 



In the fruit of the Rose (fi;;. 439), the achrenia instead of being 

 ])laced ui)on an elevated thalamus as in the ordinary etajrio, arc 

 situated upon a concave thalamus to which the calyx is attached. 

 This modification of the ordinary ctrerio has been made a sepa- 

 rate fruit by some botanists, to which the name of Ci/nar/hodnin 

 has l)een given. A similar kind of fruit also occurs in Culi/- 

 caniJius. 



In the Ra8])bcrry (fig. 591) and Bramble, we liave a kind of 

 ctnsrio formed of a number of little drupes or drupels, crowded 

 together upon a dry thalamus. The ctn^rio and its modifications 

 are ])laced by Lindley under a class of fruits called by him ag- 

 gregate fruits, the characters of Avhich are, " Ovaria strictly 

 simple; more than a single series produced by each flower." 



Fig. C84. "Vertical section 

 of an acha3nium of tlie 

 Pasque Flower (Anemone 

 Pulsatilla). Tlie fruit is 

 said to be tailed in this 

 instance in consequence of 

 being surmounted hyafea- 



tliery style. Fig. 08.5. 



Achaenia or fruits of Bu- 

 gloss iLycopsis). 



