142 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



that in these two last classes, the endocarp retains the 

 original form peculiar to legumes; for whilst the 

 epicarp and mesocarp are perfectly continuous and inde- 

 hiscent, the stone presents two sutures and two valves 

 like legumes, and has a tendency to open, at least at the 

 period of germination, or sometimes sooner. In all 

 fleshy carpels, the epicarp and mesocarp are destroyed 

 by putrefaction or maceration ; and the seed, invested 

 with the bony or membranous endocarp, is sown and 

 germinates as in pseudo-spermous fruits. 



We must not confound with the flesh, which is a 

 watery or fleshy development of the mesocarp, the Pulp 

 (pulpa) of the fruit ; this is only found in the interior 

 of the carpel : thus, for example, the legume of Cassia 

 fistula is dry and encloses a true pulp : this pulp is not 

 an organ, properly so called, but is a secretion of the 

 endocarp, placenta, umbilical cord, or of the surface of 

 the seed. It is probable, that we confound under this 

 name, various matters secreted by different organs ; 

 thus, I am inclined to believe that the sour and acid 

 pulp of Sophora proceeds from an organ different from 

 that from which the sweet and laxative pulp of Cassia, 

 &c. does. 



Dehiscent carpels may open in different manners. The 

 most simple case is that where the two margins of the 

 carpellary leaf separate at the point of union and open 

 lengthways, as in follicles. Sometimes this dehiscence 

 takes place throughout the whole length, as in Asclepias ; 

 sometimes only at the top, as in TroUius. 



A second very frequent case is that where the de- 

 hiscence takes place by the ventral suture and by the 

 dorsal nerve or suture, as in the legumes of most of the 

 Leguminosas. 



But it sometimes happens that the two sutures so 

 cohere together, that they cannot open. Thus, if the 



