294 



THE FRUIT. 



ing the pod two-celled in an anomalous manner. A SILICLE 

 (Silicula, diminutive of siliqua) is merely a short silique, the 

 length of which does not more than twice or thrice surpass the 

 breadth ; such as that of Shepherd's-Purse (Fig. 624) . and of 

 Lunaria, Candytuft, &c. 



562. Indehiscent Dry Fruits are almost always one-seeded or 

 very few-seeded. If numerous, the seeds thus placed would not 

 be dispersed. The ordinary kinds are strictly one- 

 seeded, and in common language are often con- 

 founded with seeds. The ways in which such fruits 

 are dispersed are various. In the following case, 

 the adaptation of the pericarp to dispersion by wind 

 distinguishes the species of fruit. 



563. The Samara, sometimes called in English a 

 Key, is an indehiscent one-seeded fruit provided 

 with a wing. In the White Ash 

 the wing is terminal (Fig. 625) ; 

 in other species the whole fruit 

 is wing-margined ; in Birch and 

 Elm (Fig. 626) the wing sur- 

 rounds the body of the pericarp ; 

 and the Maple fruit is a double 

 samara or pair of such fruits, con- 

 626 spicuously winged from the apex. 

 564. Akene (Lat. Achenium) is a general name for all the 

 one-seeded, dry and hard, indehiscent and seed-like small fruits, 

 such as are popularly taken for naked 

 seeds. But that they are true pistils, 

 or ovaries ripened, is evident from the 

 style or stigma they bear, or from the 

 scar left by its fall ; and a section 

 brings to view the seed within, provi- 

 ded with its own proper integuments. 

 The name has been restricted to the seed-like fruits of simple 

 pistils, such as those of the Buttercup (Fig. 628, 629) , Anemone, 

 Clematis, and Geum. The st3*le in some species of the latter 

 remains on the fruit as a long and feather}' tail, in others as a 

 short and hooked one, both being agents of dissemination. The 

 grains of the strawberry (Fig. 653) are also akenes. The name 

 is extended to all one-celled seed-like fruits resulting from a 



FIG. 625. Samara or key of White Ash. Fraxinus Americana. 626. That of WTiite 

 Elm. Ulmns Americana. 627. Double samara of Red Maple. Acer rubrum. 



FIG. 628. Achenium of a common Buttercup. 629. Vertical section, showing the 

 seed within. 



