FIELDBOOK OF ILLINOIS WILD FLOWERS 
which comes from an ovule within the ovary, but a fruit may 
contain many seeds or only a single seed; it may split open to 
shed the seeds or it may remain closed and invest the true seed 
permanently with an extra protective layer. Thus, sunflower 
seeds, acorns and hickory nuts, forms which range in size from 
the small dandelion seed to the walnut, are dry fruits not easily 
separated from the single seed which they enclose. 
Fruits classified.—Fruits may be classified into the fleshy 
fruits and dry fruits. Thus the apple, plum and persimmon are 
fleshy fruits, whereas the maple seed, milkweed pod and cotton 
boll represent dry fruits. The fleshy fruits are further classified 
into several categories, depending upon whether they have hard 
stony centers, separate compartments for the seeds, or bear 
few or many seeds. The fruit of the apple, quince and pear is 
called a pome, the fruit of the gooseberry, persimmon and grape 
is called a Jerry and the fruit of the plum and cherry, with a 
stony covering for the single seed, is called a drupe. 
In the blackberry and raspberry (which are not true berries 
in the botanical sense) we find a cluster of many tiny druplets, 
each one of them a cherry or plum in miniature. We call this an 
aggregated fruit. Here there are many small pistils in the flower, 
each one of which may develop into a druplet; on the other 
hand, in plum and peach only one pistil is found, which develops 
in a nilar manner into a single large drupe. Likewise, the 
strawberry has many simple pistils in the flower, each of which 
develops into a dry akene, but the receptacle of the flower to 
which they are attached becomes the conspicuous fleshy part. 
The fleshy fruit of a garden rose is called by another name, the 
hip, that of a hawthorn is called a haw, and there are many other 
names which are used in describing certain special kinds of 
fruits. For example, the fruit of a melon is called a pepo. 
DEHISCENT AND INDEHISCENT FRUITS 
The dry fruits may be subdivided into the indehiscent fruits 
that do not split open, and the dehiscent fruits that split open 
when ripe. The smallest of the indehiscent fruits are the akenes, 
illustrated by the fruits of dandelions. These are frequently 
provided with parachutes consisting of a crown of tiny bristles 
(the pappus), which carry them over great distances on air 
currents. Others, such as Spanish needles, have a pappus of 
little hooks or spines by which the akenes ‘become attached to 
clothing and are carried about by man and animals, thus effecting 
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