HOTANY. 



401 



3 IN BOTANY \m. 



.IV. Uo- . l'KliiU(a)iUtnuil). 



Lot us now uxiiiiiiiiu 11 rose, not HO mu.-li fur th>> -.u.,- <( looming 



i .: tlio flower, M for the Bako of gradually 



making ouraolves acquaint- 1 witli tin.- trurturo of Huuh fruit* 

 us apjilon and jn-ars. 



ipa wo hin I hotter oommonco with tho fruits, u a rose 



lion little to toaoh u*. After tho petals of a roue have all 



remains, as everybody knows, a flank-shaped 



then, tha calyx, nut being adherent, tho f ruiU or carpel*, 

 although surrounding them, can readily be separated. But after 

 the examples of botanical transformation which we hare already 

 i-.-wn, tin- n-.i I-! Hurprised at the information that, 



in certain members of the roae order, the calyx out only ur- 

 ronnds the carpels, bnt actually attach** itself to them ; thos 

 beooming, what we should term in ordinary language, a portion 

 of the fruit. This is the case with apples and pears, wi. 

 composed each of five carpels, recognisable by the fire seed- 

 Teasels olosely enveloped in a fleshy calyx. What we torm the 



129. BLOSSOM, BUDS, AND LEAF OF THE BLACKBERRY (RUBUS FKUTIOOSUS). 130. FEAR BLOSSOM. 131. SWER BRIAR OB XOLAjmn (OiA 

 RUBIGINOSA). 132. APRICOT BLOSSOM (AUMENJACA VULOARIS). 133. BLOSSOM OT THE PEACH (PEKSICA VULOAJUS). 134. 

 BENNET, OR AVENS (OEUM COCCINEUM). 135. LADY'S MANTLE (ALCHEMILLAj . 



body, which contains little hairy prominences termed seeds 

 in ordinary language. In reality, these are fruits, each contain- 

 ing a seed, and the external envelope in which they are oon- 

 I tained is nothing more than tho calyx. This peculiar confer- 

 . mation will bo readily demonstrated by considering the various 

 parts of a roso flower, and the changes which these parts 

 undergo. If we open a rose flower, we see numerous stamens 

 bnt no pistils. On looking still more attentively, the tops of 

 pistils become evident, that is to say, their stigmas, but their 

 styles are hidden. If a vertical section of the flower be now 

 made, tho stigmas will bo seen to proceed from ovaries affixed, 

 as already described, to the inside of the calyx, and hidden by 

 the envelopment of the latter, which surrounds them on all 

 idea, only a narrow tliroat-likc opening being left at the top. 



VOL. i. 



eye of an apple ia nothing but the remains of tho free part of 

 the calyx enclosing withered stamens. 



A precisely similar structure is observable in the pear 

 (Fig. 130), the quince, and the mountain ash ; the fruit of the 

 last-named, indeed, resembles common applee in every respect 

 except size and colour. The hawthorn U also a rosaceous plant, 

 belonging to the sub-order Pomcce ; hence the structure of the 

 fruit, haws, should resemble the structure of an apple. On a 

 casual examination this does not seem to be the case, for 

 whereas the apple contains internally some parchment-like 

 cavities, the fruit of the hawthorn contains seeds covered 

 by a hard strong investment, this is no other than a 

 thickened condition of the parchment -lika compartments of 

 tho apple. 



86 



