THE DEHISCENCE OF FRUITS 289 



One might mention a number of other legumes where, 

 although the balance was not employed in this connection, it 

 was evident that dehiscence occurred when the drying in air 

 was far advanced, such as Guilandina honducella and Poinciana 

 regia, the last tardily dehiscent. 



The transverse dehiscence of legumes into closed joints or The trans- 

 articles also takes place towards the close of the drying process. clnS of '^' 

 I am most familiar with this form of opening in the case of Entadapods. 

 Entada scandens and E. polystachya. In this genus, to employ 

 the description employed by Grisebach in his Flora of the British 

 West Indian Islands^ the legume is " flat-compressed, the joints 

 separating from each other and leaving a persistent, continuous 

 border, the replum." The pods, when the drying is far 

 advanced, break up on the plant into closed joints, each joint en- 

 closing a single seed. With Entada polystachya this is generally 

 preceded by the scaling off of the epidermis. If the epidermis is 

 persistent, as happens at times, the pod remains entire. The ulti- 

 mate liberation of the seed is affected by the decay of the joint. 



As far as the mode of dehiscence is concerned, the remark- The dehis- 

 able polycoccous capsular fruit of Hura crepitans might be ^ura 

 almost described as composed of a number of single-seeded crepitans, 

 legumes arranged around and attached to a central axis. The 

 rupturing of the cocci takes place in the last stage of the 

 drying of the fruit. A fruit, seemingly dry, but displaying the 

 earliest signs of the splitting of the cocci, was placed in a box 

 and left in a warm corner. After the dehiscence was complete 

 I found that the fruit had lost about 8 per cent, of its weight 

 in the process. This fruit, which contained fifteen cocci, 

 weighed 1233 grains, and I was able to estimate its weight in 

 the green condition from the following data : — 



Actual weight of a green fruit with 14 cocci = 3062-5 grains. 



16 » =3281-2 „ 

 Estimated „ „ 15 » =3172-0 „ 



This reliable estimate of its weight in the green, full-grown 

 condition enabled me to complete the history of its dehiscence 



19 



