STRUCTURE OF FRUIT. 139 



Suture ; and this is given to it by analogy, even when it 

 does not open, provided that the nerve be well-marked : 

 but it must be remarked that this suture is the rupture 

 of an organ by a natural dehiscence, whilst the first is 

 disunion of two portions cohering together ; the carpels 

 formed by leaves folded lengthways having consequently 

 two sutures, bear the generic name of Legume, (legu- 

 wen). There are some families, such as the Ranuncu- 

 laceae, where the existence of the dorsal suture is so 

 slightly perceptible, that we see in neighbouring genera 

 carpels which may be referred, almost at will, to follicles 

 or legumes. 



When the carpels are long, with their valves flat, or 

 nearly so, and their seeds situated at small distances, 

 two phenomena frequently happen, which modify their 

 ordinary state. Sometimes the portions of the carpel 

 which are found between the seeds, are united together 

 by a kind of natural union, or by a development of the 

 cellular tissue, which forms kinds of false partitions be- 

 tween the seeds: this constitutes the legumes which 

 are said to be multilocular, or to have transverse cells, 

 as, for example, in Clitoria. At other times, the por- 

 tion of the carpel situated between the seeds is de- 

 veloped less than that which is around them, and then 

 the legume presents here and there swellings and 

 contractions. These different states of legumes with 

 transverse cells or joints are expressed collectively, by 

 calling them Lomentaceous carpels or legumes. Some- 

 times the two phenomena occur at once, as in Sopliora. 



The carpels sometimes have a thecaphore or support, 

 which is to the carpellary leaf what the petiole is to the 

 ordinary one. This Thecaphore is very visible in 

 Phaca, Glottidium, Colutea, and several other Legumi- 

 nosas. It must be observed that this pedicel of the fruit 

 is often spirally twisted, whence it results that the 



