72 FRUIT OR SEED. 



Capsule, Fig. 133. This 

 term signifies a little chest, 

 or casket, and in Botany, is 

 applied to that kind of seed 

 vessel which is of a woody 

 texture, and which, as it 

 grows dry, discharges its seeds spontaneously, by dividing 

 into several parts called valves. In some plants the capsule 

 discharges its seeds by pores, or small orifices, the valves re- 

 maining closed, as in the Poppy, (Papaver.) 



The capsule consists of one cell or of many. The above 

 figure, (from Drummond,) represents capsules of one, two, 

 three, and four cells. The first is called a one celled, the 

 second a two celled capsule, and so on, according to the 

 number of divisions, or compartments it contains. The mem- 

 brane, or other substance which forms these divisions, ia 

 called the dissepiment, or partition, and the central part where 

 these partitions meet each other, and to which the seeds are 

 usually attached, is called the columella, or pillar of the 

 capsule. Sometimes this is merely a thread. The peri- 

 carps of Flax, (Linum,) of Mullein, (Verbascum,) and Thorn- 

 apple, (Datura,) are capsules. 



Siliqua, a Pod, Fig. 134. This is a pericarp 

 of two valves, or in the language of Botany, a 

 bivalved pericarp. The seam formed by the 

 joining of the two valves of any pod, is called 

 the suture. In some pods the seeds are all af- 

 fixed to one suture, generally the upper one, 

 and in others they are arranged alternately 

 along the edges of a membrane or partition, 

 which separates the pod into two portions, in 

 the line of the sutures. The siliqua, properly so called, is 

 of the latter description, as represented by the figure, where 

 by a separation of the valves, this partition is seen, with the 

 seeds attached. The pericarps of Cabbage, Turnip, and 

 Wall-Flower, are of this kind. 



What kind of a pericarp is the capsule 1 What examples are givsn 

 where the seeds are discharged by orifices 1 When is a seed vessel call 3d 

 a one or two celled capsule 1 What is the dissepiment, and what the 

 columella 1 What is the suture of a pod ? What pericarps are commor 

 examples of the siliqua ? 



