SECT. V. THE FRUIT. 



the genus Echium it is crustaceous, and in Mycsotis 

 it is hard as flint. The figure of the nut-shell is Figure. 

 generally roundish or oval ; but in the Horn-beam 

 it is angular ; and in the Fir it terminates in a 

 membranaceous border called the wing. In the 

 acorn it is one-celled, in Trapa it is two-celled, 

 and in the Chesnut six-celled; but the paititions 

 are not perceptible in the mature state of the fruit. 

 The contained seed or nut is generally denominated 

 the Nucleus, and is extricated for the most part 

 by means of a fissure effected in the process of 

 germination ; or by the gradual decay of a part. 

 But in the Walnut the shell opens spontaneously 

 into two valves ; and in the Filbert, in which it 

 does not perhaps open spontaneously, the valves 

 seem at least to be marked out by a sort of super- 

 ficial line, and are easily divided with the assist- 

 ance of a knife. In Lycopsis it opens by a hole or 

 fissure at the base, and in Trapa by a hole at the 

 apex. Sometimes it is naked, as in Lycopsis ; but 

 sometimes also it is coated, that is covered with a 

 membranaceous envelope, either wholly or in part, 

 as in the Acorn and Walnut. 



ARTICLE 5. The Drupe. The drupe (PI. VI. - Defini-- 

 Fig. 5.) is a soft and pulpy pericarp without valves, 

 but enclosing a nut. It may be exemplified in 

 what is generally called stone fruit, as in the 

 Cherry, the Peach, and Apricot. Its figure is for 

 the most part roundish*, as in the Cherry ; or elip- 

 tical, as in the Apricot. In the genus Haksia it 



