STRUCTURE OF FRUIT. 141 



often united to the pericarp, or this organ is so well 

 moulded upon it without adhering, that the two bodies 

 seem confounded ; it is this which has caused the term, 

 Naked Seeds, to be applied to them, a very incorrect 

 one, which might be replaced by that of Pseudosper- 

 mous fruit or carpels ; the sutures, even the ventral one, 

 are here scarcely perceptible, being often reduced to a 

 simple nerve or fold, sometimes hardly visible. At 

 maturity these carpels, detached from the peduncle, are 

 sown without opening ; the seed, which is within, ger- 

 minates without coming out, and, as it is usually soli- 

 tary, this is performed without difficulty. It is to this 

 class of fruits that the following belong, viz. — 



The Utricle (utricuhis), where the carpel is mem- 

 branous and does not adhere to the seed ; as in Ama- 

 ranthus. 



The Nut (nux), where the carpel is osseous or stony, 

 and does not adhere to the seed, as in the Cashew-nut. 



The Caryopsis, where the carpel adheres intimately 

 to the seed, as in Wheat. 



2d. There are other indehiscent carpels, which have 

 the mesocarp more or less developed and fleshy. In 

 plants with carpels solitary by abortion, or isolated from 

 one another, we only find them fleshy in those which 

 have naturally one or two seeds. Some are of a fleshy 

 nature, with the endocarp membranous ; such are, for 

 example, the little round carpels, which, by being 

 collected on a common axis, form the fruit of the 

 Bramble and Raspberry : others have the mesocarp 

 fleshy, with the endocarp bony ; to these the name of 

 Drupe (drupa) is given ; such are the fruit of Detarium 

 and Geoffrcea among the Leguminosae ; Plums, Cherries, 

 and Peaches among the Amygdalaceae : finally, there are 

 others which have the mesocarp fibrous and the endocarp 

 bony, as the fruit of the Almond. It must be observed, 



