Definitions. xxxvii 



distributed (see orders Apocynece and Asclepiadece). A solitary follicle 

 seldom occurs, two cr more generally forming one fruit. When a 

 fruit is made up of two or three united one-seeded carpels, which 

 finally separate, these are called cocci. (See order Euphorbiacece.) 

 A capsule, or other fruit, having two equal rounded lobes is called 

 didymous. 



45. The principal indehiscent fruits are the berry, a fleshy fruit 

 with many seeds, as the guava ; the drupe, a fleshy fruit, with one 

 seed, as the mango and peach t 1 the nut, a hard and dry shell, con- 

 taining a single seed : the name achene is generally given to the same 

 when the fruit is small and seed-like ; the samara, a thin nut with 

 an extensive wing. 



46. The parts of the drupe called botanically epicarp, mesocarp, and 

 endocarp, are in most cases commonly known as skin, flesh, and stone, 

 the latter enclosing the kernel or seed. Pericarp is used of the whole 

 of the fruit outside of the seed or seeds. 



When the endocarp consists of several distinct stones or nuts 

 these are called pyrenes. In some cases, as in orders Boragineae and 

 Labiatce, these look like naked seeds. 



47. The base of the seed, by which it is attached to the placenta, is 

 called the hilum, the opposite extremity the point or apex, that part 

 which becomes the root of the new plant is the radicle, which in 

 order Rhizophoreas (mangroves) is very remarkably developed. The 

 seed is sometimes more or less covered by a skin or aril, which, being 

 coloured, is often very conspicuous. 



48. In a few orders, e.g. Coniferce, the seeds are not enclosed in a 

 fruit, but are naked : these orders are, therefore, called gymnosper- 

 mous. 



49. Before finishing with the fruit, it may be said that beginners 

 often find it difficult to say under what designation a particular fruit 

 should come. The walnut is a drupe, the eatable part being an 

 unusally large lobed seed, the shell being a two-valved endocarp, 

 and the green fibrous outer covering epicarp and mesocarp, which, 

 being united, H. in this case calls exocarp. In the cocoa-nut, which 

 is also called a drupe, the green fibrous covering is epicarp, the hard 

 shell the endocarp, the eatable pulp the albumen, in which the embryo 

 of the seed is embedded at the base of the fruit. The orange is a 

 berry divided into a number of cells, the walls (or dissepiments) of 

 which are membranous. The banana, or plantain, is a succulent 

 indehiscent many. seeded fruit, properly speaking a berry. The 

 name pome is given to the apple, pear, etc., in which the fleshy, eatable 

 part is the swollen peduncle, 2 while the scaly cells, or core, enclosing 

 the seeds are the endocarp. The acorn is a nut with a leathery shell, 

 which the seed completely fills : the cup is not part of the fruit, but 

 is formed by the union of many hardened bracts or floral leaves. 



1 Hooker does not entirely keep to this distinction between the 

 berry and the drupe, but sometimes calls a fruit a berry-like drupe, 

 considering any fruit to be a drupe if the seed or seeds are enclosed 

 in a stone or other covering, a berry if the seeds are not so enclosed. 



2 This is the description in Hooker's "Primer;" other authors 

 describe the formation of the pome differently. 



