THE PROMISE OF THE PLANT THAT IS TO BE 473 



FIG. 580. APPLE. 



Longitudinal section of pome. 



flowering stems of this plant, which spring 

 from a common axis almost level with the 

 root, curve outwards to the circumference 

 of the plants, and by that means give a 

 strong pull to the radish-shaped root, 

 sufficient to force it from the ground. The 

 environment of the plant favours this 

 singular and apparently suicidal proceed- 

 ing, for the earth during the summer season 

 is full of cracks. Then, when the wind 

 comes howling over the steppes, the plant 

 is caught up and driven along with others 

 of its kind, and together they fly bounding 

 over the plain. One by one their wild 

 careers are checked, and each settles down to shed its seeds in its new 

 resting-place. 



Having offered these general remarks, we will now consider the subject 

 of the Phanerogamic Fruit in more detail. 



A fruit or ripened ovary consists, 

 normally speaking, of two parts the pro- 

 tective enveloping case, known as the 

 pericarp, and the seed or seeds (ripened 

 ovules). The pericarp consists of three 

 layers, each of which has a distinguishing 

 name. The outermost layer i.e. the in- 

 tegument or skin of the fruit is the epi- 

 carp ; the middle layer is the mesocarp ; 

 and the inner coat the endocarp. When, as frequently happens, the 

 middle layer is of a fleshy or succulent nature, it is called the surcocarp. 



It was noticed a few pages back that 

 parts of plants are sometimes described as 

 fruits which are not true fruits at all. We 

 call these spurious fruits pseudocarps. The 

 strawberry, apple, fig, and mulberry are 

 familiar examples. The red, succulent, 

 fleshy part of the Strawberry is not a 

 ripened ovary, but the greatly swollen re- 

 ceptacle or thalamus of the flower ; and the 

 real fruits are the small, dry, seed-like 

 carpels scattered over its surface. In an 

 Apple the edible part is not the ovary 

 alone, but embraces the succulent and en- 

 larged floral receptacle, which also, as in 

 the Strawberry, forms the bulk of the 



FIG. 581. MULBERRY. 



.V pseudo-sym'.irp. 



FIG. 582. MEDLAR. 



A. pome. 



