THE FRUIT. 



147 



239. Any syncarpous fruit having a dry dehiscent 

 pericarp is called a capsule. The dehiscence of syncarpous 

 or polycarpellary fruits is of several kinds. If the rupture 



takes place along the partitions the 

 fruit will be split up into its original 

 carpels ; this form of dehiscence is 

 septicidal (Fig. 203). But the 

 dehiscence may take place along the 

 dorsal suture of each carpel, half- 

 way between the partitions, so that 

 the opening is into the loculus ; this 

 Fig. 203. mode is known as loculicidal (Fig. 



204). Or again, the valves (separate 



pieces of the pericarp) may fall away, 



leaving the partitions standing ; this 



dehiscence is septifragal (Fig. 205). 



240. A long and slender capsule 

 having two cells separated by a 

 membranous partition bearing the 



seed, and from which, when ripe, Fig. 204. 



the valves fall away on each side, 

 is called a silique (Fig. 206). If, 

 as in Shepherd's Purse (Fig. 29), 

 the capsule is short and broad, it is 

 called a silicle. If the capsule 

 opens horizontally, so that the top 

 comes off like a lid, as in Purslane 

 (Fig. 207), it is & pyxis. 



241. Any dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit is called an 

 ichene, of which the fruit of Buttercup (Fig. 14) is an 



Figs. 203, 204, 205. Diagrams illustrating septicidal, loculicidal, and septi- 

 fragal dehiscence. 



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