FRUIT-VEGETABLES 85 
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Fic. 90.—Egg Plant (Solanum Melongena, Nightshade Family, Solanacee). 
Plant in fruit, zs. (Vilmorin.)—An annual; flowers similar in form to 
those of tomato, but violet in color; fruit dark violet, or whitish. 
lism.’ ‘The forming of a carbohydrate in sunlight is called photo- 
synthesis.” 
Food-making being the peculiar task of green herbage 
renders foliage as a rule less useful than other parts for the 
storage of food. Hence we find leafy shoots accumulating 
food only incidentally, and then generally in largest amount 
where least exposed to light. The main work of foliage is to 
utilize sunlight for the making of food, and in so doing it keeps 
the surrounding air fit for animals to breathe. 
37. Fruit-vegetables, as the name implies, are succulent 
fruits which are used in the same manner as herbage and 
earth-vegetables. The most important examples are the 
cucumber, the various sorts of squash and pumpkin, the 
tomato, and the egg-plant (Figs. 80-90). To these must 
be added the so-called ‘‘string-beans’” and ‘‘wax-beans”’ 
which are merely varieties of the kidney-bean already noticed 
wherein the green esculent pod plays a more important part 
than the unripe seeds. 
From the fact that they are used more as ‘“‘ vegetables” 
than as “‘fruits’’ we should expect fruit-vegetables to re- 
semble more nearly the former in chemical composition. 
We find this to be the case. In their percentage of water, 
1 Cat-ab’o-lism < Gr. kata, downward. 
2 Pho-to-syn’the-sis < Gr. photos, light; synthesis, a putting together. 
