GROUP IV. — PHANEROGAMIA: ANGIOSPERMiE. 



o2y 



FiG.340.— Fraitof illiaitm 

 anisatiim: st peduncle; // 

 the separate fruits, each 

 with a seed (s) forming an 

 apocarpous fructification. 



When the fruifc consists of one or more monomerous ovaries, it 

 is said to be apocarpous : examples of this occur in Ranunculus, in 

 the Raspberry, where the individual ovaries are succulent, and in 

 the Star- Anise (Fig. 340). The individual 

 fruits may be developed in very different 

 ways ; they may be dehiscent or indehis- 

 cent, dry or succulent. 



When the fruit consists of a single poly- 

 merous ovary, it is said to be syncarpous. 

 When the carpels of such a fruit separate 

 septicidally during the process of ripening, 

 so that it ultimately appears as if a number 

 of distinct fruits were present, it is termed 

 a schizocurp : it may thus split into only 

 two distinct fruits, as in the UmbelliferaB (Fig. 341); or, as in the 

 Geraniaceae and many Malvaceae, into several distinct fruits : each 

 of them is termed a coccus or mericarp ; the individual coccus 

 is generally indehiscent (dehiscent in most Euphorbiaceoe). 



In various multilocnlar ovaries only one loculus becomes fully 

 developed and bears seeds, as in Valerian, 

 the Coco-Nut, and the Oak ; the others 

 are abortive. It sometimes happens in 

 cultivated plants that the fruit becomes 

 perfe'itly formed without any development 

 of seed, as in a particular seedless variety 

 of Grape, the Uanana, the Pine-Apple, 

 etc. 



In all true fruits the wall of the ovary 

 forms the pericarp or rind. In some more 

 or less succulent fruits, the pericarp con- 

 sists of three distinct layers ; the external 

 layer is the epicarp, the middle the meso- 

 carp, and the innermost the endocarp. 



The following varieties of true fruits have been 

 distinguislied by the character of the pericarp, 

 whether it is dry or succulent, liard or soft, — aud by 

 the dehiscence or indehiscence of the pericarp. 



A. Dry Fruits. The pericarp is woody or cori- 

 aceous ; when ripe, the sap Las usually disappeared 

 from all the cells. 



I. Dry Indehiscent Fruit*. The pericarp doea not 



Fig. 311.— Carum Carui, 

 one of the Umbelliferse. A 

 Ovary of the flower (/). 

 B Ripe ftchizocarp which 

 has divided into two cocci 

 or raericarps (m), a portiou 

 of the median wall (a) forms 

 the carpophore. 



