THE FRUIT GIFT. 161 



the myriads of plants of which I know nothing, there may be 

 forms of the envelope of fruits or seeds which may, for com- 

 fort of speech, require some common generic name. One un- 

 real difficulty, or shadow of difficulty, remains in our having no 

 entirely comprehensive name for seed and seed-vessel together 

 than that the botanists now use, ' fruit.' But practically, even 

 now, people feel that they can't gather figs of thistles, and 

 never speak of the fructification of a thistle, or of the fruit of 

 a dandelion. Arid, re-assembling now, in one view, the words 

 we have determined on, they will be found enough for all 

 practical service, and in such service always accurate, and, 

 usually, suggestive. I repeat them in brief order, with such 

 farther explanation as they need. 



11. All ripe products of the life of flowers consist essentially 

 of the Seed and Husk, these being, in certain cases, sus- 

 tained, surrounded, or provided with means of motion, by 

 other parts of the plant ; or by developments of their own 

 form which require in each case distinct names. Thus the 

 white cushion of the dandelion to which its brown seeds are 

 attached, and the personal parachutes which belong to each, 

 must be separately described for that species of plants ; it is 

 the little brown thing they sustain and carry away on the 

 wind, which must be examined as the essential product of 

 the floret ; the ' seed and husk.' 



12. Every seed has a husk, holding either that seed alone, 

 or other seeds with it. 



Every perfect seed consists of an embryo, and the substance 

 which first nourishes that embryo ; the whole enclosed in 

 a sack or other sufficient envelope. Three essential parts 

 altogether. 



Every perfect husk, vulgarly pericarp, or ' round-fruit,' (as 

 periwig, 'round-wig,') consists of a shell, (vulgarly endocarp,) 

 rind, (vulgarly mesocarp,) and skin, (vulgarly epicarp) ; three 

 essential parts altogether. But one or more of these parta 

 may be effaced, or confused with another ; and in the seeds 

 of grasses they all concentrate themselves into bran. t 



13. When a husk consists of two or more parts, each of 

 which has a separate shaft and volute, uniting in the pillar 



