252 FKUTT OR MATURE PISTIL. 



flesh, or pulp, and hence has sometimes been called sarcocarp (Wj , 

 flesh), while the endocarp becomes hardened by the production of 

 woody cells, and forms the stone or putamen (putamen, a shell), imme- 

 diately covering the kernel or the seed. The same arrangement is 

 seen in the fruit of the Cherry, Apricot, and Plum. In these cases, 

 the mesocarp is the part of the fruit which is eaten. In the Almond, 

 on the other hand, the seed is used as food, while the shell or endo- 

 carp, with its leathery covering or mesocarp, and its greenish epicarp, 

 are rejected. The pulpy matter found in the interior of fruits, such as 

 the Gooseberry, Grape, and Cathartocarpus Fistula (fig. 395), is formed 

 from the placentas, and must not be confounded with the sarcocarp. 



525. In the Date, the epicarp is the outer brownish skin, the pulpy 

 matter is the mesocarp or sarcocarp, and the thin papery-like lining is 

 the endocarp covering the hard seed. In the Pear and Apple, the outer 

 skin or epicarp is composed of the epidermis of the calyx, combined with 

 the ovary ; the fleshy portion is the mesocarp, formed by the cellular 

 portion of the calyx and ovary 5 while the scaly layer, forming the 

 walls of the seed-bearing cavities in the centre, is the endocarp. In 

 the Medlar (fig. 472), the endocarp becomes of a stony hardness. In 

 the Melon, the epicarp and endocarp are very thin, while the mesocarp 

 forms the bulk of the fruit, varying in its texture and taste in the ex- 

 ternal and internal part. The rind of the Orange consists of epicarp 

 and mesocarp, while the endocarp forms partitions in the interior, filled 

 with pulpy cells. 



526. Thus, while normally the divisions of the fruit ought to indi- 

 cate the number of the carpels composing it, and these carpels should 

 each have three layers forming the walls, it is found that frequently the 

 divisions of a multilocular fruit are atrophied or absorbed, in whole or 

 in part, and the layers become confounded together, so that they 

 appear to be one. Again, in fruits formed of several carpels, the 

 endocarp and mesocarp are occasionally so much developed as to leave 

 the epicarp only on the free dorsal face of the fruit, forming a covering 

 which is wholly external, as in the Castor-oil plant, Euphorbia, and 

 Mallow. Occasionally, the endocarp remains attached to the centre, 

 forming cells, in which the seeds are placed, while the outer layer 

 separates from it at certain points, and leaves a row of cavities in the 

 substance of the pericarp itself. 



527. While in many fruits the calyx becomes incorporated with the 

 pericarp, there are others in which it is closely applied to the ovary, 

 but still separable from it. Thus, in the fruit of Mirabilis Jalapa 

 (fig. 441, 1), when a section is made longitudinally (fig. 441, 2), the 

 hardened calyx, c c, is observed distinct from the fruit, f, which is in 

 this instance incorporated with the seed, but at once distinguished by 

 its style, s. The same thing occurs in Spinacia or Spinach. Again, 

 in Hippophae rhamnoides, and in the Yew (fig. 442), there is an exter- 



