l] DEFINITION OF FRUIT 7 



or Primrose, &c., that if we give the name of a fruit to 

 each individual carpel of the former as it ripens (these 

 flowers having apocarpous gyncecia) and also the name of 

 a fruit to the whole mature syncarpous pistil of the latter, 

 we are comparing parts with wholes, although in both 

 cases the total fruit arises from a single flower. Here 

 then is another point of distinction the total aggregate 

 of little separate fruits of a Buttercup, &c. forms an aggre- 

 gate fruit (ceterio), while the single but syncarpous fruit of 

 a Poppy (Fig. 4), &c. counts as an individual fruit. 



Fig. 3. Caltha. Fig. 4. Papaver somniferum. 



Aggregate Fruit (Le M). Porous capsule, cut open (E and P). 



It is obvious, therefore, that the student has some 

 initial difficulties to overcome in determining the botani- 

 cal nature of a fruit, and equally obvious that these 

 difficulties can be overcome by observing and comparing. 

 The best guides are undoubtedly the flowers with their 

 as yet unripened fruits, side by side with the mature 

 fruits; but as experience and practice increase the 

 student soon learns to use other guides to aid him. 

 For instance the lens will frequently show the shrivelled 



