xxxvi Definitions. 



and corymb are less definite than the above, and are used when the 

 inflorescence is not exactly that of any of them, the flowers being all 

 more or less level at the top. The corymb is considered to be a 

 modification of the raceme, the cyme of the panicle. A fascicle may 

 perhaps be best described as an imperfect whorl of stalked flowers. 

 An ament or catkin is the spike of imperfect flowers characteristic of 

 the old order Amentacea. A spadix is a fleshy spike, containing flowers 

 only in the lower part, and enclosed in a large bract called a spathe; 

 this arrangement is characteristic of Aroidecc, and two or three allied 

 orders. 



40. When the flowers, whatever the inflorescence may be, proceed 

 from the axils of the leaves, they are said to be axillary ; when 

 occnrring only at the top of the stem or branches, terminal. 



41. Any part of a flower that qnickly falls off is called deciduous ; 

 any part that is united to another part, as the calyx often is to the 

 ovary, is called adnate to it : connate is nsed in much the same sense. 



42. V. THE FRUIT. l The enlarged ovary is, generally speaking, the 

 fruit of the plant : in many cases, however, the ovary is so altered 

 in shape, or by the adhesion to it of the calyx or other parts, that it 

 can only be called the foundation or first form of the fruit. Generally 

 speaking, a single perfect or female flower produces a single fruit ; but 

 where the ovary has several distinct carpels, distinct fruits are often 

 found. On the other hand, where a number of flowers grow on a 

 common receptacle, a single fruit sometimes results, as in the pine- 

 apple, which is made up of the ovaries and floral envelopes of several 

 flowers combined, and Morinda citrifolia, the fruit of which is com- 

 posed of many drupes coalescent into a fleshy round head like an 

 apple. 



43. Any part of the flower which remains, and forms part of the 

 fruit (as the calyx or part of it, or the style often do), is called 

 persistent. Fruits are called succulent when they are fleshy or juicy ; 

 dry when they have neither flesh, pulp, nor juice ; dehiscent when they 

 open naturally to let out the seeds ; indehiscent when they do not so 

 open. In the last case the seeds are liberated by the rotting of the 

 fruit, or by passing through the birds which eat the fruit. 



44. The principal dehiscent fruits are the following : The capsule. 

 a general name lor a dry fruit: it most often splits into valves, but 

 sometimes breaks up irregularly, sometimes opens like a lid from a 

 box, when it is called circumscias ; the legume, or pod, having two 

 valves, with the seeds attached to a placenta on one side (see order 

 Leguminosce 2 ) ; the silique, which opens by two longitudinal slits, 

 forming two valves, separating from a central frame, to which the 

 seeds adhere (see order Cruciferce) ; the follicle, also two-valved, but 

 opening by one longitudinal slit only, and with the seeds variously 



The limitation of the word fruit to eatable products is not 

 recognized botanically, every plant as a rule having its own fruit. 



2 Although the fruit of all leguminous plants are called legumes, 

 there are some genera in which it is indehiscent, and others in which 

 it separates into one-seeded joints (see gen. Pongamia and Desmo- 

 dinm). 



