THE SEED. 329 



apple, the mulberry (Fig. 244), &c. The grains of the latter are 

 not the ovaries of a single flower, like those of the blackberry (Fig. 

 680), but belong to as many separate flowers; and the pulp of 

 these belongs to the floral envelopes instead of the pericarp (583). 

 The fig results from a multitude of flowers concealed in a hollow 

 flower-stalk, if it may be so called, which becomes pulpy and edi- 

 ble (Fig. 241-243). Thus the fruit seems to grow directly from 

 the branch without being preceded by a flower. In the Partridge- 

 berry (Mitchella repens), and in several species of Lonicera (Fig. 

 741), the ovaries of two flowers are uniformly united, so as to form 

 a double berry ; just as twin apples or cherries are sometimes acci- 

 dentally produced. 



619. A Cone, or Strobile, is a collective fruit of the Pine and Cy- 

 cas Families (Fig. 395, 403) ; each scale representing an open 

 carpel (375), bearing one or more naked seeds. 



620. The cone of a Magnolia is, however, entirely different, 

 consisting of the numerous aggregated carpels of a single flower, 

 crowded and persistent on an elongated receptacle. 



CHAPTER XI. 



OF THE SEED. 



SECT. I. ITS STRUCTURE AND PARTS. 



621. The Seed, like the ovule (561), of which it is the fertilized 

 and matured state, consists of a NUCLEUS, usually inclosed within 

 two INTEGUMENTS. 



622. Its Integuments, The outer, or proper seed-coat, corre- 

 sponding to the exterior coat (563) of the ovule, is variously termed 

 the EPISPERM, SPERMODERM, or more commonly the TESTA (Fig. 

 451, b). It varies greatly in texture, from membranaceous or 

 papery to crustaceous or bony (as in the Papaw, Nutmeg, &c.), 

 and also in form; being sometimes closely applied (conformed) to 

 the nucleus, and in other cases loose and cellular (as in Pyrola, 

 Fig. 810, and Sullivantia, Fig. 725), or expanded into wings (as in 

 the Catalpa and Bignonia), which render the seeds buoyant, and 



28* 



