288 ORGANOGRAPHY. 



cies of Ranunculus {fig. 528), it is conical ; in the Strawberry 

 {fig. 591), it is hemispherical; in Nelumbium {fig. 640), it is a 

 large tabular expansion, in which there are a number of cavities 

 containing the carpels. In the Eose it forms a concavity upon 

 which the carpels are placed {fig. 437). 



In the Primulacese, Santalacese, 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. At other times ^e thalamus 

 becomes prolonged beyond the ovary, as in the Geraniacege and 

 Umbelliferse ; this prolongation is termed a carpophore. In the 

 species of Geranium {fig. 626), this carpophore forms a long 

 beak-like process, to which the carpels are attached, and which 

 only 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 true leaves {fig. 641). To this prolongation of 

 the axis beyond the flower the term median prolification is 

 usually applied. 



In some plants the thalamus becomes prolonged beyond the 

 calyx, and forms a stalk to the ovary, to which the term of 

 gynophorc has been applied. Examples of this may be seen in 

 some of the Cappafidacese {fig. 642); in the Passion-flower, in 

 the Pink {fig. 588, g), Dictamnus {fig. 610), a,n^ Xanthoxylon {fig. 

 594, g). This prolongation or stalk of the ovary is by some con- 

 sidered to be formed by the union of the petioles of the car- 

 pellary 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 become the seeds ; their description, therefore, in a regu- 

 lar arrangement, should follow that of the ovary. It is, however, 

 far more convenient to examine, in the first place, the structure 

 and general characters of the fruit, as this is composed essen- 

 tially of the mature ovary or ovaries, and its description comes 

 therefore naturally at the present time, when the details con- 

 nected with the ovary are fresh in our memories. Such an 

 arrangement has, also, the further advantage of enabling us to 

 describe the seed 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 fertilization has 

 been effected, important changes take place in the pistil and 

 surrounding organs of the flower, the result of which is the for- 

 mation of the fruit. The fruit consists essentially of the mature 



