THE SEED-VESSEL. 



25. The seed-vessel is a term applied to the membrane 

 or substance in which the seed is produced. It is formed 

 from the germen or base of the pistil, which, after the 

 flower has performed its proper office, gradually expands 

 and becomes the seed-vessel. 



Seed-vessels are very different in their nature, form, and substance, 

 as the gooseberry, currant, strawberry, orange, pear, cherry, filbert, 

 poppy, and so on, very plainly assure us. 



26. From the use, structure, or form of seed-vessels, 

 they have been systematically divided into seven sets ; 

 viz. the capsule, the pod, the legume, the drupe, the pome, 

 the berry, and the cone, 



Though most plants have seed-vessels, nevertheless there are 

 some exceptions ; but in these cases, the seed is generally retained 

 enclosed within the calyx until they ripen : this is the case with the 

 nettle. In the tribe of grasses, this office is very frequently per- 

 formed by the corolla. 



27. The capsule is a dry, hollow, membranous seed- 

 vessel, usually divided into valves, and opening natu- 

 rally in some peculiar manner, according to the plant to 

 which it belongs. (F. 62 and 63.) 



In the orchis, they open at the side by a small hole ; in the pim- 

 pernel horizontally, in the convolvulus, longways ; at the bottom in 

 arrow-grass, and at the top in the poppy. 



28. The pod is a species of seed-vessel, which con- 

 sists of two valves or partitions, within which, the seeds 



