DEHISCENCE OF FRUITS 



159 



283. 

 Basal dehiscence of 

 campanula capsule. 



316. A compound pod — dehiscing pericarp of two or 

 more carpels — is a capsule. (Pigs. 275, 276.) There are 

 some capsules of one locule, but they may have been com- 

 pound when young (in the ovary stage) 

 and the partitions may have vanished. 

 Sometimes one or more of the carpels are 

 uniformly crowded out by the exclusive 

 growth of other carpels. (Fig. 277.) The 

 seeds or parts that are crowded out are said 

 to be aborted. 



317. There are several ways in which 

 capsules dehisce or open. When they break 

 along the partitions (or 

 septa), the mode is known as septicidal 

 dehiscence; Fig. 278 shows it. In septi- 

 cidal dehiscence, the fruit sepa- 

 rates into parts representing the 

 original carpels. These carpels 

 may still be entire, and they then 

 dehisce individually, usually 

 along the inner edge as if they 

 were follicles. When the com- 

 partments split in the middle, 

 between the partitions, the mode is lo- 

 cidicidal dehiscence. (Fig. 279.) In some 

 cases the dehiscence is at the top, when 

 it is said to be apical (although several 

 modes of dehiscence are here included). 

 When the whole top comes off, as in 

 purslane and garden portulaca (Fig. 280), 

 the pod is known as a pyxis. In some 

 cases apical dehiscence is by means of 

 a hole or clefts. (Fig. 281.) In pinks and 

 their allies the dehiscence does not 

 extend much below the apex. (Fig. 282.) ' ' f ca taip». 



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