ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY MANUAL 1 
their dissemination. Many akenes have no special appendages, 
others may have tufts of hairs which are formed differently and 
have other names, such as the feathery crown of hairs on the 
akenes of clematis, or the coma, or tuft of hairs that rise separate- 
ly from the seed coat of the milkweed. The seed of grass is often 
spoken of as an akene but is more properly called a grain or a 
caryopsis; and that of mints, in which only a part of the ovary 
comes off with each seed, is called a nutlet. 
Winged fruits such as those of ash and maple are called 
samaras. The larger fruits of oaks, hazel and walnuts, which 
do not split open to shed the seeds, are called nuts, and their 
dissemination is dependent upon animals; they are commonly 
planted in the ground by squirrels hoarding their winter’s 
supply of food. The seed coats of many of these indehiscent 
fruits are so hard that they must be split open by frost before 
the seeds can germinate. 
There are still other, more complex indehiscent fruits, such 
as the fruit of the cocklebur and burdock. These are aggregates 
of a flower cluster and are included in the category of multiple 
fruits. There are also fleshy multiple fruits such as the mulberry, 
for here we have the product of a cluster of small flowers. 
Dehiscence.—The dehiscent fruits that split open to shed 
their seeds are of many different kinds. They split open along 
definite lines or seams called sutures. The capsule is illustrated 
by the fruit of the poppy, the Jimson weed and the lily. Some 
of them split open lengthwise into two or more pieces called 
valves, they may split open crosswise as in the purslane, or they 
may open by little pores near the top of the seed capsule as in 
the common poppy. All these fruits are derived from the flower 
with a compound pistil, one which has several parts, cavities or 
compartments. 
Follicles and pods are names given to certain fruits coming 
from simple pistils, such as the fruit of a columbine and pea; 
the first kind splits down the inner side only, the second splits 
down the outer side as well. The fruits of certain mustards, 
called siligues, appear similar to the pods and follicles but are 
in fact compound or double, often having a definite partition 
between two halves. 
Thus the more complex terminology employed by botanists 
implies certain important distinctions which tell us something 
of the kind of flower and pistil which gave rise to the particular 
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