46 ADHESION. 



is, in ordinary language, called tlie fruit really consists 

 of the whole mass of flowers constituting the inflo- 

 rescence fused together. Union of the fruits may also 

 in some cases take place between the carpels after the 

 fall of the other floral whorls, particularly when the 

 outer layers of the pericarp assume a succulent con- 

 dition, so that under the general head of syncarpy really 

 different conditions are almost necessarily grouped 

 together, and, in seeking to investigate the causes of the 

 phenomenon, the particular circumstances of each indi- 

 vidual case must be taken into account. Syncarpy 

 takes place in various degrees ; sometimes only the 

 stalks are joined ; at other times the whole extent of 

 the fruit, as in cherries, &c. This peculiarity did not 

 escape the observant mind of Shakespeare 



" A double cherry seeming parted, 

 But yet a union in pai'tition, 

 Two lovely berries moulded on one stem." 



' Midsummer Night's Dream,' act iii, so. 2. 



A similar union has been observed in peaches, goose- 

 berries, gourds, melons, and a great many other fruits. 

 In the Barbarossa grape I have frequently seen a 

 fusion of two, three, four or more berries quite at the 

 end of the bunch, so that the clusters were terminated 

 by a compound grape. Seringe has remarked sometimes 

 two, sometimes three, fruits of Ranunculus tr'qmrUtus 

 soldered together. He has also seen three melons 

 similarly joined.^ Turpin mentions having seen a 

 complete union between the three smooth and leathery 

 pericarps which are naturally separate and enclosed 

 within the spiny cupule of the chestnut.^ Poiteau and 

 Turpin have figured and described in their treatise 

 on fruit trees, under the name of Nefle de Correa, 

 four or five medlars, joined together and surmounted 

 by all the persistent leaflets of the calyces.^ 



' ' Bull. Bot..' tab. iii. figs. 46. 



' ' Mdm. greffe Ann. Science Nat.,' ser. i, t. xxiv, p. 334. 

 ' " MespiTus portentosa." Poit. et Turp., ' Pomof. Franc.,' liv. xxxi. p. 

 202, pi. 202. 



