162 



FRUITS 



urn, and the separate achenes are borne inside it. The mouth 

 of the receptacle may close, and the walls sometimes become 

 fleshy: the fruit may then be mistaken for a berry. 



324. The reinforced 

 fruit of the pear, apple, 

 and quince is known as a 

 pome. In this case the 

 five united carpels are 

 completely buried in the 

 hollow torus, and the torus 

 makes most of the edible 

 part of the ripe fruit, while 

 the pistils are represented 



291. Strawberries. The edible part is torus. U v |V>p OOrP ( Fiff 293 ) 



Fig. 294 shows the apple in bloom; Fig. 295 shows young 

 fruits, only one having formed in each cluster. In the lower 

 left-hand flower of Fig. 294, note that the sepals do not fall. 

 Observe the sepals on the top of the torus (apex of the 

 fruit) in Fig. 295. In the plum flower (Fig. 209), note that 

 the pistil sits free in the hollow torus: imagine the pistil 

 and torus grown together, and something like a pome 

 might result. 



325. The reinforced fruit of pumpkin, squash 

 (Fig. 296), melon and cucumber is a pepo. The 

 outer wall is torus, but the sepals do not persist, 

 and the fruit is normally 3-loculed (although the 

 partitions may disappear as the 

 fruit ripens). The maypop, one of 

 the passion flowers growing wild in 

 the southern states, has a similar 

 structure. 



326. Gymnospermous Fruits.— 292 - m P of rose 

 In pines, spruces and their kin, there is no fruit in the 

 sense in which the word is used in the preceding pages, 

 because there is no ovary. The ovules are naked or uncov- 



293. Diagram of 

 a pear. The 

 receptacle is 

 o, and the 

 pericarp 6. 



