196 organography. book i. 



The Arrangement of Desvaux. 



Class 1 . Pericarpium dry. 



Ord. 1. Simple fruits. 

 § Indehiscent. 

 § § Dehiscent. 

 Ord. 2. Dry compound fruits. 

 Class 2. Pericarpium fleshy. 

 Ord. 1. Simple fruits. 

 Ord. 2. Compound fruits. 



In explanation of the principles upon which the classifica- 

 tion of fruit which I now venture to propose is founded, it 

 will of course be expected that I should offer some obser\'- 

 ations. In the first place, I have made it depend primarily 

 upon the structure of the ovary, by which the fruit is of neces- 

 sity influenced in a greater degree than by any thing else, the 

 fruit itself being only the ovary matured. In using the terms 

 simple and compound, I have employed them precisely in the 

 sense that has been attributed to them in my remarks upon 

 the ovary ; being of opinion that, in an arrangement like the 

 following and those which have preceded it, in which theoreti- 

 cal rather than practical purposes are to be served, the princi- 

 ples on which it depends should be conformable to the strictest 

 theoretical rules of structure. A consideration of the fruit 

 without reference to the ovary necessarily induces a degree of 

 uncertainty as to the real nature of the fruit ; the abortion and 

 obliteration, to which almost every part of it is more or less 

 subject, often disguising it to such a degree that the most 

 acute carpologist would be unable to determine its true struc- 

 ture from an examination of it in a ripe state only. In simple 

 fi'uits are stationed those forms in which the ovaries are multi- 

 plied so as to resemble a compound fruit in every respect 

 except their cohesion, they remaining simple. But, as the 

 passage which is thus formed from simple to compound fruits 

 is deviated from materially when the ovaries are placed in 

 more than a single series, I have found it advisable to consti- 

 tute a particular class of such vuider the name of aggregate 

 fruit. Care must be taken not to confound these with the 



