XIII. THE SEED AND HUSK. 249 



peach; and therefore, to be the outer part of the 

 husk. But not at all. The outer part of the husk 

 in the apple is melted away into the fruity mass 

 of it, and the red skin outside is the skin of its 

 stalk, not of its seed-vessel at all ! 



10. I say 'of its stalk,' — that is to say, of the 

 part of the stalk immediately sustaining the seed, 

 commonly called the torus, and expanding into 

 the calyx. In the apple, this torus incorporates 

 itself with the husk completely ; then refines its 

 own external skin, and colours that variously and 

 beautifully, like the true skin of the husk in the 

 peach, while the withered leaves of the calyx 

 remain in the ' eye ' of the apple. 



But in the ' hip ' of the rose, the incorpora- 

 tion with the husk of the seed does not take 

 place. The torus, or, — as in this flower from its 

 peculiar form it is called, — the tube of the calyx, 

 alone forms the frutescent part of the hip; and 

 the complete seeds, husk and all, (the firm tri- 

 angular husk enclosing an almond-shaped kernel,) 

 are grouped closely in its interior cavity, while 

 the calyx remains on the top in a large and 

 scarcely withering star. In the nut, the calyx 

 remains green and beautiful, forming what we call 

 the husk of a filbert ; and again we find Nature 

 amusing herself by trying to make us think that 



