128 THE FRUIT. [lesson 20. 



341. The Pcpo, or Gourd-fruit, is the sort of berry which belongs 

 to the Gourd family, mostly with a hard rind and the inner portion 

 softer. The pumpkin, squash, cucumber, and melon are the prin- 

 cipal examples. 



342. The Pome is a name applied to ihe apple, pear, and quince ; 

 fleshy fruits like a berry, but the principal thickness is calyx, only 

 the papery pods arranged like a star in the core really belonging to 

 the pistil itself (333). 



343. Secondly, as to fruits which are partly fleshy and partly hard, 

 one of the most familiar kinds is 



344. The Drupe, or Stone-frmt ; of Avliich the cherry, plum, and 

 peach (Fig. 285) are familiar examj)lcs. In 

 this the outer part of the thickness of the 

 pericarp becomes fleshy, or softens, like a 

 berry, while the inner hardens, like a nut. 

 From the way in which the pistil is con- 

 structed (305), it is evident that the flesliy 

 part here answers to the lower, and the stone 



^"^ to the upper, side of the leaf; — a leaf always 



consisting of two layers of green pulp, an ui)per and an under hiycr, 

 which are considerably different (439). 



345. Whenever the walls of a fruit are separable into two layers, 

 the outer layer is called the Exocarp, the inner, the Endocarp (from 

 Greek words meaning "outside fruit" and "inside fruit"). But in 

 a drupe the outer portion, being fleshy, is likewise called Sarcocarp 

 (which means "fleshy fruit"), and the inner, the PiUamen or stone. 

 The stone of a peach, and the like, it will be perceived, belongs to 

 the fruit, not to the seed. When the walls are separable into three 

 layers, the outer layer is named either exocarp or Epicarp ; the 

 middle one is called the Mesocarp (i. e. middle fruit) ; and the inner- 

 most, as before, the Endocarp. 



346. Thirdly, in dry fruits the seed-vessel remains herbaceous in 

 texture, or becomes thin and membranaceous, or else it hardens 

 throughout. Some forms remain closed, that is, are indehisccnt 

 (338) ; others are dehiscent, that is, split open at maturity in some 

 regular way. Of indehiscent or closed diy fruits the principal kinds 

 are the following. 



347. The Achcilluni, or Ahene, is a small, one-secdcd, dry, indehis- 



FIG. 285. Longitudinal section of a peach, showing the flesh, the stone, and Ihe seed- 



