vii.] THE FRUIT. 83 



the term syncarpous to all fruits which result from 

 syncarpous pistils. 



Now the changes which take place during the ripening 

 of the fruit are very simple indeed in Buttercup compared 

 with those which take place in many t)ther plants. We 

 often find that an ovary with several cells in the flower is 

 but one-celled in fruit, and that many ovules present in 

 the flower are sometimes sacrificed during the perfecting 

 of a single seed. Take an Acorn, or Beech-nut, for 

 example. When ripe they contain but one cell and one 

 seed, but if the ovary be cut across in June it will be 

 found to be three-celled, with a pair of ovules in each 

 cell. This suppression of parts during the ripening of 

 the fruit is very common. It is, however, but one of the 

 important changes to which it is subject. 



Another change which greatly disguises the true nature 

 of the fruit is the excessive enlargement of certain parts, 

 or the alteration in texture and firmness of certain layers 

 of the pericarp. 



Examine a ripe Cherry. You find it borne upon a 

 peduncle. At the top of the peduncle there still remains 

 a scar showing where the stamens were attached, and 

 that the calyx was inferior. A little dot on the top of the 

 Cherry denotes the position of the style. It must follow, 

 then, that the Cherry-fruit has developed from the ovary 

 only. You cut into the pulp of the fruit, and find that it 

 encloses a hard stone. Break the stone, and the seed 

 will be found inside. The stone is a hardened inner 

 layer of the pericarp, the pulp a succulent outer layer; 

 both the stone and the pulp which surrounds it originate 

 from the walls of the ovary. Stone-fruits, like the Cherry 

 and Peach, are called drupes. Like the small fruit- 

 carpels of Buttercup, they do not split open (dehisce) 

 when ripe to let the seed escape, but simply fall to the 

 ground, where the pericarp rots away and the seed begins 

 to germinate. 



Try now an Apple. Examine first the top of the 

 peduncle, underneath the fruit. There is no scar to be 

 found, as in the Cherry, but at the top of the Apple you 

 find the distinct remains of the limb of the calyx, and 

 sometimes even a few withered stamens. You thus know 

 the fruit to be inferior. In a previous chapter (p. 26) we 



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