FRUITS AND THEIR USES 125 



that they are the most important part of the plant for his 

 purposes. 



To begin with, we must remember that the grains, such as wheat, 

 rice, and corn, are fruits and not merely seeds as we commonly 

 think. These furnish more food than all other plant parts, com- 

 bined. Then there are the fleshy fruits like the apple, orange, 

 grape, and peach which we use raw, cooked, and canned, and 

 from which many other food products are manufactured. From 

 the downy contents of the cotton boll we obtain that most essential 

 fiber, which nature intended to help in dispersing the seed. 



On the other hand, the fruits of some weeds are altogether too 

 efficient in their methods of dispersal, and we have to fight the 

 spread of plants like the dandelion, hawk weed, burdock, and 

 thistle. Some fruits are poisonous, presumably better to protect 

 the seeds, and these occasionally do harm to man; among them 

 may be mentioned the Jimson weed, night-shade, and water hem- 

 lock. 



COLLATERAL READING 



Seed Dispersal, Beal, entire; Little Wanderers, Morley, entire; Plant 

 Relations, Coulter, pp. 112-122; Introduction to Botany, Stevens, pp. 

 207-217; Plant Structures, Coulter, pp. 210-215; The World's Great Farm, 

 Gaye, Chap. 17 and 18; Textbook of Botany, Strasburger, pp. 288-291; 

 Lessons in Botany, Atkinson, pp. 292-299; Elementary Botany, Atkinson, 

 pp. 368-373; Lessons with Plants, Bailey, pp. 336-341; Plants and their 

 Children, Dana, pp. 50-73; Botany for Schools, Atkinson, pp. 198-205; 

 Flowers, Fruits and Leaves, Lubbock, pp. 45-96; Natural History of Plants, 

 Kerner and Oliver, Vol. II, Part 2, pp. 833-878; Elementary Studies in 

 Botany, Coulter, pp. 167-186; Experiments in Plants, Osterhout, pp. 312- 

 325; With the Wild Flowers, Hardinge, pp. 202-216; The Story of the 

 Plants, Allen, pp. 149-161; The Living Plant, Ganong, pp. 378-402. 



SUMMARY 



1. Definition of Fruit 



2. Types of fruits. 



Stone fruit, one-celled, fleshy (peach). 

 Pome, many -celled, fleshy (apple). 

 Grain or nut, one-celled, dry (corn, pecan) 

 Legume, many-celled, dry (bean). 



3. Functions of fruits. 



Protection. 

 Dispersal. 



