266 ANTHOCABPOUS FRUITS 



lamellae. It sometimes exhibits perforations, becoming fenestrate (fenes- 

 tra, a window). At other times its central portion is absorbed, so 

 that the fruit becomes one-celled. 



Fruits which are the produce of several Flowers united. 



556. It sometimes happens that the ovaries of two flowers unite so 

 as to form a double fruit. This may be seen in many species of 

 Honeysuckle. But the fruits which are now to be considered, consist 

 usually of the floral envelopes, as well as the ovaries of several flowers 

 united into one, and are called Multiple or Anihocarpous. 



557. The Sorosis (<ra(>os, a congeries or cluster) is a multiple fruit 

 formed by a united spike of flowers, which becomes succulent. The 

 fruit of the Pine-apple (fig. 474) is composed of numerous ovaries, floral 

 envelopes, and bracts combined so as to form a succulent mass. The 

 scales outside, c c, are the modified bracts and floral leaves, which, 

 when the development of the fruit-bearing spike terminates, appear in 

 the form of ordinary leaves, and constitute the crown, f. Other in- 

 stances of a sorosis are the Bread- 

 fruit and Jack-fruit. Sometimes a 

 fruit of this kind resembles that 

 formed by a single flower, and a 

 superficial observer might have some 

 difficulty in marking the difference. 

 Thus, the Strawberry, Mulberry, and 

 Easpberry appear to be very like 

 each other, but they differ totally in 

 their structure. The Strawberry and 

 Easpberry are each the produce of a 

 single flower, the former being a 

 succulent edible receptacle bearing 



achaenia on its convex surface; the latter being a collection of drupes 

 placed on a conical unpalatable receptacle; while the Mulberry (fig. 

 475) is a sorosis formed by numerous flowers united together, the 

 calyces becoming succulent, and investing the pericarps. 



558. Syconus (<rvxo, a fig,) is an anthocarpous fruit, in which the 

 axis, or the extremity of the peduncle, is hollowed, so as to bear 

 numerous flowers, all of which are united in one mass to form the 

 fruit. The Fig (fig. 246) is of this nature, and what are called its 

 seeds are the achsenia or seed-vessels of the numerous flowers scattered 

 through the pulpy hollowed axis. In Dorstenia (fig. 245), the axis is 



Fig. 474. Anthocarpous fruit of Ananassa sativa, Pine-appla Axis bearing numerous 

 flowers, the ovaries of which are combined with the bracts, c c, to form the fruit /, Crown of 

 the Pine-apple consisting of empty bracts or floral leaves. 



Fig. 475. Anthocarpous fruit of the Mulberry, formed by the union of several flowers. 



