328 



THE FRUIT. 



parietes of the cell, where their two constituent parts, more or less 



separated an^ recurved, bear the 

 ovules. As the ovary enlarges, the 

 ends of the placentae usually cohere 

 with the contiguous walls, and the 

 thin dissepiments are at the same 

 time obliterated ; so that the fruit 

 presents the deceptive appearance 

 of a three-celled (or, by obliteration 

 of the axis, a one-celled) pericarp, 

 with abnormal parietal placentae. 

 Sometimes the placenta are parie- 

 tal ; in that case they are revolute 



without meeting or cohering in the axis. 



614. A Capsule is a general term for all dry and dehiscent pods 

 resulting from a compound ovary, whether opening by valves (593, 

 Fig. 621, &c.), or bursting irregularly, as in Lobelia, or shedding 

 the seeds through chinks or pores, as in the Poppy. 



615. A Silique is a two-valved capsule, rendered two-celled by a 

 false partition stretched between the parietal placentae (552), from 

 which the valves separate ; as in all Cruciferous plants (Fig. 527), 

 to which family it is confined. A short and broad silique is called 

 a SILICLE ; as in the Shepherd's Purse or Capsella (Fig. 532) = 



616. A Pyxidium, or Pyxis, is a capsule that opens transversely by 

 a lid or cover, as already explained (600). 



617. AnthOGarpOUS Fruits are those which, in addition to the peri- 

 carp, have an accessory covering derived from some exterior or- 

 gan, which, however, does not cohere with the ovary in the fruit; 

 as the nut-like fruit of Mirabilis, the hard outer envelope of which 

 is the indurated and persistent base of the tube of the calyx, which 

 was perfectly free in the blossom. And the berry-like fruit of 

 Shepherdia consists of a fleshy calyx-tube, inclosing a free nut-like 

 pericarp. Instances of this kind are common among what are 

 called 



618. Multiple OF Collective Fruits ; or those which result from the 

 aggregation of several flowers into one body or mass. They are, 

 in fact, dense forms of inflorescence, with the fruits or floral enve- 

 lopes matted together or coherent with each other ; as in the pine- 



FIG. 449. Section of the ovary of the Gourd ; and 450, a diagram of one of its constituent 

 carpels. 



