THE FRUIT. 457 



of the pistillate flower of the cedar (juniper) shows usually three 

 flask-shaped ovules on the end of a fertile shoot subtended by as 

 many bracts (carpels?). The young ovules are free, but as they 

 grow they coalesce, and the outer walls become fleshy, forming 

 a berry-like fruit with a three-rayed crevice at the apex marking 

 the number of ovules. The red fleshy fruit of the yew (taxus) 

 resembles a drupe which is open at the apex. The stony seed 

 is formed from the single ovule on the fertile shoot, while the red 

 cup-shaped fleshy part is formed from the outer integument of 

 the ovule. The so-called "aril" of the young ovule is a rudi- 

 mentary outer integument. 



The fruit of the maidenhair tree (ginkgo) is about the size of 

 a plum and resembles very closely a stone-fruit. But it is merely 

 a ripened ovule, the outer layer becoming fleshy while the inner 

 layer becomes stony and forms the pit which encloses the em- 

 bryo and endosperm. The so-called "aril," or "collar," at the 

 base of the fruit is the rudimentary carpel, which sometimes is 

 more or less completely expanded into a true leaf. The fruit 

 of cycas is similar to that of ginkgo, but there is no collar at the 

 base. In zamia the fruit is more like a cone, the seeds being 

 formed, however, on the under sides of the scales. 



VII. The "Fruit" of Ferns, Mosses, etc. 



890. The term " fruit " is often applied in a general or popu- 

 lar sense to the groups of spore-producing bodies of ferns (jruit- 

 dots, or sori), the spore-capsules of mosses and liverworts, and 

 also to the fruit-bodies, or spore-bearing parts, of the fungi and 

 algae. 



