80 DIVISION OF FRUIT. 



if of 3, as the violet, involved ; if of 4, as hi the stramonium, qriad- 

 rivalved. Sutures or seams are the lines uniting the valves which 

 separate at maturity, as with the two valves of the pea pod. Parti- 

 tions divide the cells and are longitudinal or transverse. Column or 

 columella is the axis of the fruit, the central point of union of the 

 partitions, as in the core of the apple. The cells contain the seeds : 

 they seldom vary in the same genus of plants. The Receptacle of 

 fruit is the part of the pericarp to which the seeds are attached 

 until maturity and which through its connecting fibres conveys food to 

 the seeds from the pericarp. Some plants have no pericarp, as with 

 the grasses and compound and labiate flowers : the seeds lie in the 

 bottom of the calyx, which performs the office of the pericarp. 



The division of fruit, by Linnaeus was into 9 classes, viz: 1. The 

 capsule, a little casket, opening by pores or valves. The seed cells are 

 one-celled, two-celled, etc., according to number. It rises from the re- 

 ceptacle and has the seeds attached all around. In one-celled cap- 

 sules this is wanting. 2. Silique, a two-valved and two-celled peri- 

 carp, with the seeds attached alternately to opposite edges, as radish, 

 mustard, etc. Silicle is a little pod, 35 and is the distinction in the 

 class tetradynamia. 3. Legume, a pericarp of 2 valves, with the 

 seeds attached to one suture, as the pea. Plants producing the legume 

 are called leguminous, and the term pod is generally applied to the 

 pericarp. 4. Follicle, a one-valved pericarp ; the seeds are loose or 

 not attached to the suture, which opens longitudinally on one side, as 

 in the milk-weed. 5. Drupe, a stone fruit, without a valve. It con- 

 tains a nut or stone in which is a kernel or nucleus. It is mostly moist 

 and succulent, as the peach, cherry, plum, etc. Nut is a seed covered 

 with a shell, as the walnut, almond and chestnut. 7. Pome, a pulpy 

 pericarp without valves, but with a membranous capsule and numer- 

 ous cells, containing seeds. It has no external opening, or valve. 

 The apple, pear, quince, and gourd are examples. 8. Berry, a pulpy 

 succulent pericarp, the seeds having no covering but the pulp, in 

 which they are dispersed promiscuously, or placed on receptacles with- 

 in it. A compound berry consists of single berries : each is a grain 

 containing a seed united, as in the mulberry. The orange and lemon 

 are berries with a thick covering. The strawberry is commonly called 

 a berry, but it is a pulpy receptacle with naked seeds. The fig is a 

 juicy calyx with numerous florets in its cavity, each with a pulpy calyx 

 investing the seed. 9. Strobilum, a catkin hardened into a seed, as 

 in the pine : it is called an aggregate pericarp ; and some seeds of the 

 fruit are enveloped by scales. It is of various forms. A pepon is a 

 fruit like the melon, cucumber, etc. A berry is said to be proper 

 when formed of the pericarp, and improper when formed of other 

 parts. 



