SECT. V. THE FRUIT. 



tains.* Sometimes it is linear, as in Fraximlla ; 

 sometimes it is oblong, as in the Bean ; sometimes 

 it is concave, as in Hellebore; and sometimes it is 

 convex, as in Euphorbia. Near to the Hilum there 

 is also to be found in some seeds a minute pore 

 or aperture, which however is not always discover- 

 able without the assistance of a glass. But in the 

 garden Bean it is distinctly perceptible to the naked 

 eye; and was by Grew denominated the foramen. 



The Hilum is regarded by botanists as the base 

 of the seed ; and the point opposite as the apex. 

 But Gaertner has instituted also several other dis- 

 tinctions as applicable at least to many seeds, and 

 expedient to their description. Upon this principle 

 Gaertner discriminates in seeds also right and left 

 sides as relative to the foregoing parts, correspond- 

 ing to the right and left sides of the animal body, 

 as relative to parts analogous. 



The number of seeds produced by a single flower Number. 

 is extremely different in different species. In 

 some plants a flower produces only one seed, as in 

 Staticc and Polygonum ; in some it produces two, 

 as in umbelliferous plants ; in some three, as in 

 Euphorbia ; in some four, as in plants with Labiate 

 flowers ; and in some many, as in Ranunculus. 



But the great fertility of some peculiar species is 



altogether astonishing; a single capsule of Tobacco 



often contains one thousand seeds. A single cap- 



- pule of Papaver somniferum, or the White Poppy, 



* Phil, Bot. sect. 8 6. 



