104 CARPOLOGY: FUNCTIONS AND STRUCTURE OF THE FRUIT 



FRUIT 



Structural and Physiological Senses of the Term, — There are two dis- 

 tinct senses in which the term "fruit" may be employed. In the first 

 instance, we may regard it as the structural product of the develop- 

 ment in fructification of a pistil, or in the second as an organ performing 

 a certain reproductive function or functions. The limitations of our 

 definition of the term will vary accordingly. 



Entire Gynaecium as the Fruit. — In many cases the ripened gynaecium 

 performs or may perform the fruit-function entire, as in the cherry, 

 the strawberry, the blueberry, the so-called "seed" of the sunflower, or 

 the pod of the bean or digitalis. In such cases the solitary ripened 

 carpel (cherry and bean) or the aggregation of ripened carpels (as in the 

 other illustrations), of a gynaecium, constitutes the fruit, from either 

 point of view. 



Either the Whole or Part of a Gynaecium as a Fruit. — In other cases the 

 several carpels of a gynaecium are separate from first to last as pistils, 

 as in the case of the buttercup. The entire collection then constitutes 

 a fruit, being the product of a flower, but each of the individual pistils 

 must also, from a physiological standpoint, be regarded as a fruit, inas- 

 much as it performs the fruit function independently. 



Part of a Pistil as a Fruit. — Again we find, as in the case of the borage, 

 that carpels originally coherent, separate before performing their 

 function, so that we must regard each of the separated carpels, as well 

 as the entire gynaecium, as in the nature of a fruit. 



Part of a Carpel as a Fruit. — Occasionally even a carpel will itself 

 divide into separate parts, each of which is equally entitled to be 

 designated as a fruit, as in the case of the 2 carpels of the lavender, 

 which separate into 4 nutlets. 



Gynaecia of a Number of Flowers Forming a Fruit. — In still other cases 

 the ripened gynaecia of more than one flower cohere and perform the 

 fruit function as one body, as in the case of the partridge-berry, the 

 fig, and the mulberry. 



Finally, we note that many fruits can perform their function in either 

 way — namely, by means of their carpels, or parts thereof individually, 

 or as aggregations proceeding from a single flower (blackberry), or 

 from many flowers (fig, hop, etc.). It is, therefore, to be noted that 

 that which is at one time to be regarded as a fruit is at another time 

 only a part of one, according to the manner in which it performs its 

 function. 



