SECT. V. 



THE FRUIT. 157 



unrivalled, on the subject of fruits and seeds, and 

 whose authority is consequently great, seems in- 

 clined to regard all seeds whatever as furnished 

 with a .pericarp,* not excepting even those that are 

 generally called naked, in which the cuticle of the 

 seed is the pericarp. But the question ought not 

 to be whether a cuticle is in any case to be re- 

 garded as a pericarp, but whether or not all seeds 

 are furnished with a pericarp distinct from their 

 own proper integuments. The cuticle is no doubt 

 a covering, but it is not a pericarp ; and the seed 

 that has no other covering is with propriety de- 

 nominated naked, in the same manner as the 

 Indian is said to be naked, because he is without 

 clothes, although he is still covered with his own 

 proper skin. 



Of pericarps however, that are conspicuous and 

 undisputed, botanists generally enumerate the fol- 

 lowing species : The Capsule, the Pome, the 

 Berry, the Nutshell, the Drupe, the Silique, the 

 Legume, the Cone; of which in their order. 



ARTICLE 1. The Capsule. The capsule (PL VI. Defini- 

 Fig. 1.) is a dry and membranaceous pericarp 86- 

 parating for the most part, when ripe, into valves, 

 or, at least, opening in some definite and determi- 

 nate manner. It may be exemplified in the Snow- 

 drop and Bell-flower. It is one-valved, as in 

 Primula; two-valved, as in Circcea ; many-valved, 

 as in Oxalls ; or without valves, as in Fraxinus. 

 * Gaert. De Fruct. et Sem. Plant, vol. i. Introd. 



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