Ch. XV.] THE SEED. 91 



promiscuously through the pulpy substance, but are more gene- 

 rally placed upon receptacles wilhin the pulp. A compound 

 berry consists of several single berries, each containing a seed. 

 united together; as in the blackberry and raspberry. Each oi 

 the separate parts is called an acinus, or giain. The orange 

 and lemon are berries with a thick coat. 



371. There are some kinds of berries, usually so called, that 

 seem scarcely entitled to the name; in these the pulp is not 

 properly a part of the fruit, but originates from some other or- 

 gan ; thus in the mulberry and strawberry the calyx becomes 

 coloured and very juicy, surrounded by seeds like a real berry. 

 Some botanists in describing the strawberry, say that what is 

 commonly called the berry, is but a pulpy receptacle, studded 

 with naked seeds. In the fig, the whole iVuit is a juicy calyx, 

 or common receptacle, containing in its cavity innumerable flo- 

 rets, each of which has a proper calyx of its own, which be 

 comes pulpy, and invests the seed, as in the mulberry. 



372. 9th. STROBILUM, a cone ; is a Catkin or Ament hardened 

 and enlarged into a seed vessel, as in the pine ; this is called 

 an aggregate, or compound pericarp. In the most perfect ex- 

 amples of this kind of fruit the seeds are closely enveloped by 

 the scales as by a capsule. The Strobilum is oblong in the 

 pine, round in the cypress, very small in the alder and birch. 



Wben you eat fruit, as almonds, walnuts, apples, peaches, 

 currants, &c., you will no doubt be pleased to be able to give 

 them their proper place in the classes you have just been con- 

 sidering. / ^ 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Seed. 



We have now traced the plant from the root through all Us 

 various organs, until we have arrived at that part, which is a 

 link in the chain of vegetable existence between the old ami 

 new plant; if this were destroyed, if the seeds of plants \\erx* 

 no longer perfected, what changes would the whole face of na- 

 ture present ! 



373. The earth would in one year be stripped of the whole 



371. What is said of the blackberry, strawberry, mulberry, and 

 &! 



372. Describe the strubilum. 



373. Whai appearances would natuie prejent if seeds were nolonge. 

 perhxied 1 



