CHAP. II. FRUIT. 187 



number of ovules : by degrees the dissepiments are ruptured 

 and obliterated by the rapid growth of the shell of the 

 ovary ; and it finally becomes a fruit with only one cell, and 

 a large fungous placenta in the middle. In Cathartocarpus 

 fistula a one-celled ovary changes into a fruit having each 

 of its many seeds lodged in a separate cell, in consequence of 

 the formation of numerous horizontal membranes which in- 

 tercept the seeds. A still more extraordinary confusion of 

 parts takes place in the fruit of the pomegranate after the 

 ovary is fertilised; and many other cases might be men- 

 tioned. 



Every fruit consists of two principal parts, the pericarp 

 and the seed.) the latter being contained within the former. 

 Wlien the ovary is inferior, or coheres \\'ith the calyx, the 

 latter and the pericarp are usually so completely united 

 as to be inseparable and undistinguishable : in such cases it 

 is usual to speak of the pericarp without reference to the 

 calyx, as if no such union had taken place. Botanists call a 

 fruit, the pericarp of which adlieres to the calyx, an infe- 

 rior fruit {fructus inferus) ; and that which does not adhere to 

 the calyx, a superior fruit [fructus sujjerus). But Desvaux 

 has coined other words to express these ideas: a superior 

 fruit he calls autocarpien : an inferior fruit, heterocarpien ; terms 

 wholly unnecessary and unworth}' of adoption. 



Every thing which in a ripe fruit is on the outside of the 

 real integuments of the seeds belongs to the pericarp. It 

 consists of three different parts, the epicarp, the sarcocarp^ and 

 the endocarp ; terms contrived by Richard, and useful in 

 practice. 



Tlie epicarp is the external integument or skin ; the endo- 

 carp, called putamen by Gaertner, the inner coat or shell ; 

 and the sarcocarp, the intermediate flesh. Tlius, in the peach, 

 the separable skin is the epicarp, the pulpy flesh the sarco- 

 carp, and the stone the endocarp or putamen. In the apple 

 and pear the epicarp is formed by the cuticle of the cah-x, 

 and the sarcocarp is confluent with the remainder of the 

 calyx in one fleshy body. 



The pericarp is extremely diversified in size and texture, 

 varying from the dimension of a single line in length to the 



