20 



FRUIT 



the lowest plants, so it is in the case before us. 

 Even in fruits which are dry on ripening we have 

 seen that the ovaries or loculi, on which no demand 

 is made for the growth of fertilised ovules, become 

 reduced or disappear. Sometimes it may be merely 

 the coats of the seed ( as in the pomegranate ) which 

 undergo the complex histological and chemical 

 changes which we sum up as those of succulence 

 and ripening ; at other times largely their placentas, 

 as in the gooseberry and currant. Yet, as in these, 

 the innermost tissue of the ovary may become suc- 

 culent as well. In the orange also the familiar 

 succulent tissue in which the seeds are immersed 

 are the enlarged succulent cells of the endocarp ; 

 the grape too gives a characteristic example of soft 

 endocarp. These may all be classed as berries or 

 baccate fruits, for the distinction of the succulent 

 product of an inferior ovary as a berry, from that 

 of a superior one, as a uva or grape, need hardly 

 be allowed to increase our nomenclature. A pepo 

 is merely a berry in which the epicarp is thick and 

 tough (e.g. a melon, with whicn the orange and 

 pomegranate may be reckoned). Where the suc- 

 culent change, instead of primarily affecting the 



Fig. 3. 



a, drupe; 6, orange; c, a single drupelet of bramble ; d, pome; 

 e, strawberry ; /, hip of rose ; g, capitulum of Dorstenia ; h, tig. 



deeper tissues of the fruit, and so producing a berry, 

 leaves the endocarp hard, we have evidently a well- 

 contrasted type the drupaceous or stone-fruit. The 

 endocarp here forms a more or less complete ' stone ' 

 around the kernel or seed, the difference from an 

 ordinary nut being due to the succulence of an 

 outer layer, as mesocarp, with a more or less 

 leathery outer skin, the epicarp. The plum, peach, 

 and nectarine are the most obvious examples ; but, 

 since we may have many carpels thus transformed, 

 we may have an aggregate fruit or syncarp of tiny 

 drupes. The walnut and even cocoa-nut are hence 

 not true nuts (see NUT). The immature succulent 

 mesocarp of the former is familiar in pickles, the 

 walnut we crack being merely the stony endocarp 

 ( which is exceptionally specialised in being set free 

 by the bursting of the mesocarp on ripening). The 

 familiar cocoa-nut fibre is the fibro-vascular tissue 

 of the mesocarp, the fruit being thus broadly com- 

 parable to a peach which has wizened while still 

 young and stringy. But, as in the kindred grass, 

 the coats of the ovule further unite to the endocarp. 

 The numerous carpels of the strawberry, although, 

 of course, corresponding to those of the allied rasp- 

 berry, remain mere nuts ; here, however, the sub- 

 jacent portion of the floral axis or receptacle 

 becomes succulent. In the perigynous or epigynous 

 Rosacese the same change may take place ; hence 

 the rose-hip is a succulent axis, enclosing a multi- 

 tude of nuts. The apple or ' pome ' is more akin 

 to the drupe, since the carpels, here deeply sunk in 

 the upgrown floral axis, develop a hard endocarp 

 corresponding to the stone of a drupe. 



Fertilisation may even be followed by succulent 

 or other thickening of the floral envelopes, or of the 

 floral axis with subjacent bracts the various 

 cupules, as of acorn, beech, hazel-nut, &c., being of 

 this nature. Or we may have a spurious fruit 

 developed at the expense of an entire inflorescence, 

 as in the pine-apple, Dorstenia, and fig. See 

 INFLORESCENCE. 



Fruits Important to Man. The list of the fruits 

 of any importance is much shorter than would at 

 first be supposed, as may be seen from the follow- 

 ing enumeration (practically that of Frank), which 

 distinguishes those native or cultivated in northern 

 Europe (Germany and Britain) from the more im- 

 portant foreign fruits, and of course employs the 

 terms stone-fruits, berries, &c. in their merely 

 popular sense. 



I. Indigenous or Cultivated: (1) Apples or Pip- 

 fruits. Apple (Pyrus Malus), Pear (P. communis), 

 Medlar (Mespilus germanica), Quince (Cydonia 

 vulgaris), Service -berries (Sorbus torminalis and 

 S. domestica), to which may be added Hips (Eosa 

 canina, &c.) and Haws ( Cratcegus Oxyacantha), also 

 Cornel -berries (Cornus mascula). 



(2) Stone-fruit. Peach and Nectarine (Persica 

 vulgaris), Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), Plum 

 (P. instititia), Cherry (P. Cerasus and P. avium), 

 Damson (P. domestica), Greengage (P. italica), 

 Sloe (P. spinosa), Cherry -plum (P. cerasifera), 

 &c. 



(3) 'Berries.' Grape ( Vitis vinifera), Strawberry 

 (Fragaria vesca, elatior, &c. ), Raspberry (Rubus 

 Idceus), Bramble or Blackberry (R. fruticosus), 

 Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia], Red Currant (R. 

 rubrum), Black Currant (R. nigrum), Barberry 

 (Berberis vulgaris}, Black Mulberry (Moms nigra), 

 White Mulberry (M. alba], Bilberry or Blaeberry 

 ( Vaccinium Myrtillus) with its minor congeners, 

 Juniper (Juniper us communis). 



(4) Niits or Shell-fruit. Hazel-nut (Corylus 

 Avellana), Filbert (C. tubulosa), Walnut (Juglans 

 regia). See NUT. 



II. More Important Fruits of Warm, Temperate, 

 and Tropical Regions: (1) Stone-fruit. Date 

 (Phoenix dactylifera), Olive ( Olea europcea), Mango 

 ( Mangifera indica), Tahiti-apple (Spondias dulcis), 

 Mombin Plum of West Indies (S. Mombin), Avo- 

 cado Pear (Persea gratissima), Icaco or Cocoa 

 Plum (Chrysobalanus icaco), Sapota Apple (Achras 

 Sapota ). 



(2) Berries and Berry-like Fruit (in widest sense 

 of succulence). Banana and Plantain (Musapara- 

 disiaca), Pine-apple (Ananassa sativa), Fig (Fiats 

 Carica), Bread-fruit (Artocarpus incisa and integri- 

 folia), Custard Apple (Anona squamosa, &c. ), 

 Baobab (Adansonia digitata), Orange, Lemon, 

 Lime, Citron, Shaddock, Pompelmoose, Forbidden 

 Fruit, Bergamot, and other species of Citrus, 

 Pomegranate (Punica granatum), Guava (Psidium 

 piriferum), Rose-apple of East Indies (Jambosa 

 domestica and vulgaris), Tamarind (Tamarindvt 

 indica), Carob or Locust Bean (Ceratonia siliqnta), 

 Papaw ( Carica Papaya), Pumpkin ( Cucurbita Pepo, 

 &c.), Melon (Cucumis Melo), Water-melon (C. 

 Citrullus), Cucumber (C. sativus), Tomato (Lyco- 

 persicum esculentum), Lotus (Diospyros lotus), 

 Jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris), Mangosteen (Garcinia 

 Mangostana), Prickly Pear (Opuntia vulgaris). 



(3) Nuts or Shell-fruit. Cocoa-nut (Cocos nuci- 

 fera), Almond (Amygdalus communis), Chestnut 

 (Castanea ve^ca), Litchi or Lee-chee (Nephelium 

 Litchi) (really, however, a shelled drupe), Brazil- 

 nut (Bertholletia excelsa), &c. 



Chemical Composition of Fruits. Our knowledge 

 of the chemistry of fruit may be dated from the 

 analyses of Fresenius ( 1857 ). But because of the 

 innumerable varieties of almost every cultivated 

 fruit, the effects of different soils and climates 



