86 BOTANf FOR BEGIWNLRS. JCh. XIV 



he organs of fructification'. In simple flowers, as the Tulip, the 

 eceptacle is scarcely to be distinguished from the peduncle, but in 

 Compound flowers it is expanded, and furnishes a support for the 

 flowers and fruit. Receptacles are of various kinds ; as, 



346. 1st. Proper, supports but one flower, as in the Violet 

 and Lily. 2d. Common, supports manv flowers or florets, the 

 assemblage of which forms an aggregate or compound (lower, 

 as in the Sunflower and Dandelion. The common receptacle 

 presents a great variety of forms, it is either dry or pulpy ; con- 

 cave in the Artichoke ; convex in other plants ;flat, in the Sun- 

 Hower ; conical in some, and spherical in other plants. As to 

 its surface, it is punctuate, or interspersed with hollow points or 

 dots, as in the Daisy, hairy as in the Thistle, naked as in ihe 

 Dandelion, or chaffy as in the Camomile. 3d. Rachis, is the 

 filiform receptacle which connects the florets in a spike, as in 

 the heads of wheat. 4th. Columella, or pillar, is the central 

 column of the fruit, as the cob of the Indian corn. \l 



77ie Fruit. 



347. The fruit is composed of two principal parts, the pen 

 carp and seed. The term pericarp is derived from peri around, 

 and karpos seed or fruit ; it signifies surrounding the seed. All 

 that part in any fruit which is not the seed belongs to the peri- 

 carp. 



Pericarp and Seed. 



348. The germ being fetili/ed, the parts of the flower which 

 are ,not necessary for the growth of the fruit, usually fade and 

 either fall off, or wither away. The germ continues to enlarge 

 until it arrives at perfection. Everv kind of fruit,* you can see, 

 has been once but the germ of a flower. The size of fruit is 

 not usually proportioned to that of the vegetable which pro- 

 duced it. The Pumpkin and the Gourd grow upon slender her- 

 baceous plants, while the large Oak produces but an acorn. 



349. The pericarp consists of valves, sutures, partitions, cells, 

 and a receptacle. 



* The term fruit, in common language, is limited to pulpy fruits 

 *rhich are proper for food ; but in a botanical sense, the frui include? 

 jie seeds and pericarps of all vegetables. 



34G. Mention the different kinds of receptacle. 



347. Of what is the fruit composed 1 



?4S. What takes place in the flower after the germ is fertilized* 



349, Of what doe? the pericarp consist 1 



