INTRODUCTION. Xxiii 



pulp by the walls of the cavity or cells of the oyary, wliich form as it were a thin inner 

 skin or rind, called the Endocarp. 



the Drupe, in which the pericarp, when ripe, consists of two distinct portions, an 

 outer succulent one called the Sarcocarp (covered like the berry by a skin or epicarp), 

 and an inner dry endocarp called the Putamen, which is either cartilaginous (of the 

 consistence of parchment) or hard and woody. In the latter case it is commonly a 

 stone, and the drupe a stone-fruit. 



158. The principal kinds of dry fruits are 



the Capsule or Pod,^ which is dehiscent. When ripe the pericarp usually splits 

 longitudinally into as many or twice as many pieces, called valves, as it contains cells 

 or placentas. If these valves separate at the line of junction of the carpels, that is, along 

 the line of the placentas or dissepiments, either splitting them or leaving them attached 

 to the axis, the dehiscence is termed septicidal ; if the valves separate between the 

 placentas or dissepiment, the dehiscence is locuUcidal, and the valves either bear the 

 placentas or dissepiments along their middle Hne, or leave them attached to the axis. 

 Sometimes also the capsule discharges its seeds by slits, chinks, or pores, more or less 

 regularly arranged, or bursts irregidarly, or separates into two parts by a horizontal 

 line ; in the latter case it is said to be circumsciss. 



the Nut or A cliene, which is indehiscent and contains but a single seed. When the 

 pericarp is thin m proportion to the seed it encloses, the whole fniit (or each of its 

 lobes) has the appearance of a single seed, and is so called in popular language. If the 

 pericarp is thin and rather loose, it is often called an Utricle. A Samara is a nut with 

 a wing at its upper end. 



159. Where the carpels of the ovary are distinct (125) they may severally become 

 as many distinct berries, drupes, capsides, or achenes. Separate carpels are usually 

 more or less compressed laterally, with more or less prominent inner and outer 

 edges, called sutures, and, if dehiscent, the carpel usually opens at these sutures. A 

 Follicle is a carpel opening at the inner suture only. In some cases where the carpels 

 are united in the ovary they will separate when ripe ; they are then called Cocci if one- 

 seeded. 



160. The peculiar fruits of some of the large Orders have received special names, 

 which will be explained under each Order. Such are the siliqua and silicule of Cruci- 

 ferse, the legume of Legmninosse, the pome of Pyrus and its allies, the pepo of Cucm'- 

 bitacese, the cone of Coniferse, the grain or caryopsis of Graminese, etc. 



§ 14. The Seed. 



161. The Seed is enclosed in the pericarp in the great majority of flowering plants, 

 called therefore Angiosperms, or angiospermous plants. In Coniferce and a very few 

 aUied genera, called Gymnosperms, or gymnospermous plants, the seed is naked, without 

 any real pericarp. These truly gymnospermous plants must not be confounded with 

 Lahiatcp, Boraginece, etc., which have also been falsely called gymnospermous, their 

 small nuts having the appearance of seeds (158). 



162. The seed when ripe contains an embryo or young plant, either filling or nearly 

 fiUing the cavity, but not attached to the outer skin or the seed, or more or less im- 

 mersed in a mealy, oily, fleshy, or horn-like substance, called the albumen, or peri- 

 sperm. The presence or absence of this albumen, that is, the distinction between albu- 

 minous and exalbtiminous seeds, is one of great importance. The embryo or albumen 

 can often only be foimd or distinguished when the seed is quite ripe, or sometimes only 

 when it begins to germinate. 



163. The shell of the seed consists usually of two separable coats. The outer coat, 

 called the testa, is usually the principal one, and in most cases the only one attended 

 to in descriptions. It may be hard and crustaceons, woody or bony, or thin and mem,' 

 branous (skin-like), dry, or rarely succulent. It is sometimes expanded into icings, 

 or bears a tuft of hair, cotton, or wool, called a coma. The inner coat is called the 

 tegmen. 



* In English descriptions, pod is more frequently used when it is long and narrow; capsule, or 

 sometimes pouch, when it is short and thick or broad. 



