ORGANS OF REPEODrCTION. 



289 



Fig. 643. 



ovary or ovaries, containing the impregnated ovules or seeds. 

 Even the styles and stigmas mostly dis- 

 appear, but the remains of the style fre- 

 quently exist in the form of a little point 

 on the fruit, which is then commonly de- 

 scribed as apiculate. Some traces indeed of 

 the style TSrayH^ usually observed, by 

 ■which we are enabled to distinguish small 

 fruits from' seeds ; thus the fruits of the 

 Eanunculus, those of Labiate Plants, the 

 Boraginacese, Umbelliferge, &c., are thus 

 readily distinguished 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 impregnation 

 has been eflFected ; but in other cases, on the 

 contrary, the style is not only persistent 

 but continues to grow, and it then forms a 

 lengthened appendage to the fruit, as in the 

 Traveller's-joy (C/e/;m?'is) {fig. 651), and in 

 the Pasque-flower {Anemone PulsatiUa){ fig. 

 686). The style in these two cases being 

 hairy, the fruit is calledg^^y^gig^r tailed. 



Although the fruitT may' thus be de- 

 scribed as consisting essentially of the 

 mature ovary or ovaries, other parts of the 

 flower are also frequently present, and 

 enter into its composition. Thus in those 

 cases where the calyx is adherent to the ovary, as in the Apple, 

 Quince {fig. 457), Pear, Melon, and Gooseberry, it necessarily 

 forms a part of the fruit ; in the Rose the concave thalamus {fig. 

 437, T r), which bears the carpels on its inner surface, becomes 

 a portion of the fruit; in the Strawberry, again {fig. 591), the 

 fruit consists of the succulent hemispheric thalamus, bearing the 

 carpels on its convex surface; in the Acorn {fig. 374), Hazel- 

 nut {fig. 375), Filbert, &c., it consists of pistil, calyx, and 

 bracts, combined together; while in the Pine-apple {fig. 266 \ 

 it is composed of the ovaries, floral envelopes, and bracts of 

 several flowers ; in the Fig also {fig. 380), we have a fruit formed 

 of a number of separate flowers enclosed in a fleshy receptacle. 

 These examples, and a number of others might have been alluded 

 to, will show, that although the fruit consists essentially of the 

 ovary or ovaries, enclosing the impregnated ovules or seeds, 

 yet the term is also applied to whatever is combined with the 

 ovary, so as to form a covering to the seeds. 



Changes produced in the Ovary iiijhe course of its Develojp- 

 ment. — The fruit being essentially the ovary in a mature state, it 



V 



Fig. 643. Fruit of the Tra- 

 veller's-joy (Clevtatii'). 

 Tills fruit is called an 

 Achajniurn.and is cau- 

 date or tailed. 



