Ch. VII, 2] 



MORPHOLOGY OF FRUITS 



347 





connection with fruits; "Cedar apples" are only a Fungus 

 product; and the "fructification" of Fungi refers only to 

 their spore masses. 



2. The Structure and Morphology of Fruits 



The structure and morphology of fruits are largely de- 

 termined in the ovaries from which they originate, — fruits 

 being primarily ovaries further developed and specialized. 

 The particular features of the fruit have usually an obvious 

 connection with the method of dis- 

 semination of the seeds, — the accom- 

 plishment of such dissemination 

 being commonly a function of the 

 fruit. 



The structural features of the 

 ovaries — walls, partitions, number 

 of compartments and placentae — 

 can usually be recognized clearly, 

 and in the same relative connections, 

 in the fruits, while the dehiscence, 

 or opening through which the seeds 

 escape, likewise follows as a rule 

 some morphological lines of the 

 ovary. Deviations in these features, however, often occur, 

 and can usually be traced to a connection with the method 

 of dissemination. 



The fruit structure is clearest in dry fruits. Thus a typical 

 fruit of the simplest sort is represented in the pod of Colum- 

 bine (Fig. 238), which is developed from an ovary of one 

 carpel, bearing one row of seeds; these are arranged along 

 a parietal placenta, formed where the edges of the carpellary 

 leaf unite, and the pod in dehiscence simply dis-unites those 

 edges. In the Green Pea, however, of precisely the same con- 

 struction, the pod dehisces both by disuniting the edges and 

 :ilso forming a new split along the back or midrib of the car- 

 pellary leaf. Pods originating in two or more carpels like- 



Fig. 238. — Pods of Col- 

 umbine. (From Bailey.) 



