268 



PRACTICAL COURSE IN BOTANY 



Open your specimen and examine the contents ; what do 

 you find ? From a dried specimen it will hardly be practicable 

 to make out clearly that the pulp of the fig consists of hun- 

 dreds of tiny pistillate blossoms that line the inner face of the 

 receptacle. The little grains usually 

 taken for seeds are really small akenes 

 -the ripened ovaries of flowers that 

 have been pollinated from the caprifig 

 (279, 286). Crush one gently and exam- 

 ine with a lens, or under a low power of 

 the microscope. It is these " botanically " 

 FIG. 405. Vertical sec- ripe fruits (284) that give to the dried 



tion of a fig, showing the ~ . , . , 



minute flowers inside the ngs ot commerce their plumpness and 

 closed receptacle. their pleasant, nutty flavor. Why are 



our native American figs lacking in these qualities (279) ? 

 Could this defect be remedied? Do you know of any 

 efforts being made in that direction by American cultivators ? 



406 



407 



408 



409 



FIGS. 406-409. Non caprificated and caprificated figs : 406, outside appearance 

 of non caprificated fig ; 407, outside appearance of caprificated fig ; 408, interior of 

 caprificated fig ; 409, interior of non caprificated fig. 



306. Fruit clusters. Be careful not to confound aggre- 

 gate and collective fruits with mere clusters, like a bunch 

 of grapes or of sumac berries. The distinction is not always 

 easy to make out. The clump of akenes that make up a dan- 

 delion ball, for instance, though held on a common recep- 

 tacle, like the mulberry and other collective fruits, have 

 so little connection with each other, and separate so com- 

 pletely at maturity, as to partake more of the nature of a 



