FRUITS 



157 



matures. Berries, as the botanist understands the term, are 

 generally fleshy fruits resulting from the development of a 

 several-loculed ovary. The grapefruit, lemon, orange, grape, 

 persimmon, and tomato are true berries, though not usually 

 called by that name. On the other hand, a blackberry or a 

 raspberry (fig. 139) is not a genuine berry but a group of 

 fleshy ripened carpels attached to the surface of a large re- 

 ceptacle, and a strawberry is a group of little dry carpels 

 embedded in a large, juicy receptacle. 

 Pomes (apple and pear) have the seeds 

 inclosed by the ripened and fleshy ovary 

 wall, which may itself be inclosed by rip- 

 ened and fleshy floral structures outside of 

 it. Drupes (peach, apricot, and plum) have 

 the seed inclosed by the ripened ovary, 

 part of which has become hard and part 

 of which is fleshy. 



148. Form and structure of seeds. 

 Something has already been said (sect. 13) 

 of the earliest stages in the formation of 

 seeds. In the present chapter a very brief 

 account of their structure and mode of 

 growth will be given, together with a 

 few words in regard to the ways in which 

 they are dispersed. 



A very little observation suffices to 

 show how greatly seeds differ in size and shape. It would 

 not be possible to estimate accurately, without measuring both, 

 how many times larger a lima bean is than a poppy seed ; and 

 there are some orchids whose seeds are not a hundredth as 

 large as a poppy seed, while the coconut is vastly larger than 

 any kind of bean. In form seeds vary from nearly spherical 

 ones, like those of mustard and radish, to such thin, flattish 

 seeds as those of milkweed and catalpa. 1 



1 The student should notice that many objects commonly called seeds, such 

 as those of parsnip, lettuce, and dandelion, are not merely seeds but fruits. 



cal 



FIG. 139. Lengthwise 

 section through a rasp- 

 berry 



The fruit consists of a 

 cluster of little stone 

 fruits, each of which 

 has much the structure 

 of a plum or a cherry. 

 Every stone fruit is a 

 ripened carpel caJ, calyx; 

 r, receptacle ; st, remains 

 of style and stigma; 

 s, seed 



