INTRODUCTION 



BOTANY 



BOOK I. 



ORGANOGRAPHY ; OR, OF THE STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE COMPOUND ORGANS IN FLOWERING PLANTS Continued. 



14. Of the Fruit. 



The fruit (figs. 136. to 168.) is the ovary or pistil arrived 

 at maturity. But, although this is the sense in which the 

 term is strictly applied, yet in practice it is extended to what- 

 ever is combined with the ovary when ripe. Thus the pine- 

 apple fruit consists of a mass of bracts, calyxes, corollas, and 

 ovaries; that of the nut, the acorn, and many others, of the 

 superior dry calyx and ovary; that of the apple of a succulent 

 superior calyx, corolla, and ovary; and that of the strawberry- 

 blite of a succulent inferior calyx and dry ovary. 



The fruit being the matured ovary, it should exhibit upon 

 some part of its surface the traces of a style or stigma ; and 

 this mark will, in many cases, enable the student to distin- 

 guish minute fruits from seeds. Many fruits were formerly 

 called naked seeds, such as those of Umbellifers, Labiates, 

 and Borageworts, and the grain of corn ; but now that atten- 

 tion has been paid to the gradual development of organs, 

 such errors have been corrected. In cases where a trace of 



VOL. II. B 



