CHAPTER XXII. 

 THE FRUIT. 



I. PARTS OF THE FRUIT. 



322. The fruit of the plant is the final result of the work of 

 the flower. The seed is formed in connection with the fruit, 

 usually within the fruit. It is the end or aim for which the plant 

 throughout its life has been working, in order that through the 

 seed the plant may be multiplied, distributed,* and invigorated. 

 The word seed is often used to denote any reproductive body 

 which may be planted or "sown" to reproduce that plant again. 

 In a strict sense, however, seeds are only formed by the true seed 

 plants, f The seed in this sense consists of the ripened ovule 



Fig. 156. 



Aggregate fruit of buttercup (R. acris), with separate akene at right, one in section showing 

 the seed inside the old ovary wall. 



containing the embryo plant. The ovule has one or two coats 

 (integuments, fig. 152) which become in the ripe seed the seed 

 coats. The ovule is formed within the ovary. In many plants 

 the walls of the ovule are free from the wall of the ovary, as in 



* It must be remembered that many plants multiply and become dis- 

 tributed in other ways also. 



j" The Spermatophyta, including .the gymnosperms and angiosperrns. 



204 



