306 



OBGANOGBAPHY. 



verse manner. Examples of this kind of fruit may be 

 Amaranthus and Chenojpodium {fig. 682). 



Fig. 681. 



Fig. 682. 



Fi(]. 681. Vertical section of the drupe of the Cherry, ep. Epicarp. en. 



Endocarp. m«. Mesocarp. g. Seed with embryo. i^'fir. 682. Utricular 



fruit of Chenopodium, surrounded by the persistent calyx. 



b. Apocarpous Peuits. — Under this name we include those 

 fruits which are formed of a single carpel or ovary, but of which 

 several are ^produced by a single flower. The simple fruits just 

 described are frequently placed by botanists under this head, 

 together with those to which we are now about to allude. Apo- 

 carpous fruits are also sometimes called mioltiple, and this latter 

 term is again applied by others to those fruits which are the 

 produce of several flowers. We distinguish three kinds of Apo- 

 carpous fruits : — The Follicle, the Achsenium, and the Etserio. 



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. 652). By the latter 

 Fig. 683. character it is known at once from the legume, 

 which opens, as we have seen, by two sutures, 

 and is two-valved ; in other respects the two 

 are alike. In Magnolia glauca {fig. 653), and 

 some other species of Magnolia, the follicle opens 

 by the dorsal suture instead of the ventral. Ex- 

 amples of the follicle occur in the Columbine 

 {figs. 652 and 683), Hellebore, Larkspur, and 

 Aconite {fig. 681), in all of which plants the fruit 

 is composed of three or more follicles placed 

 in a circular manner on the thalamus ; in the 

 Asch'pias, Periwinkle, and Pseony {fig. 685), 

 where each flower generally forms two follicles ; 

 in the Liriodmdron and Magnolia {fig. 653), 

 where the follicles are numerous, and arranged in 

 a spiral manner on a more or less elongated tha- 

 lamus. It rarely happens that a flower produces 

 but a single follicle; but this sometimes occurs 

 Tig. 68.3. Follicles ^" ^he Pseony and other plants. The two fol- 

 of the Columbine licles of Asclepias are more or less united at 

 (Aquiiegm). their base, and the seeds, instead of remaining 



attached to the ventral suture, as is the case in the true follicle, 



