178 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



narrow place, as it does in some fruits of this family and in 

 Hedysarum of the bean family, it is called a lomentum. 



Some fruits have more than one chamber when made of 

 several carpels that have grown together. They are then said 

 to be syncarpous. If carpels are separate from each other 

 they are apocarpous. 



Dehiscence takes place in various ways. The ovaries of 



FIG. 174. Follicles of Asclepias. 



Allmca hang downward in flower so that the stigmas are pro- 

 tected from rain. When the fruit ripens it straightens up and 

 splits from the top down the centre of each carpel (loculicidal 

 dehiscence). When the split occurs between the carpels the 

 dehiscence is septicidal. 



The " Poor Man's Weather-glass " (Anagallis] and usually 

 Hypoxis split around the centre of the ovary so that the upper 

 half falls off. In Wahlenbergia a small triangular lid lifts up 



