160 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



ating the symmetry of fruits with united carpels, is the 

 abortion of some of them, either wholly or in part. 

 Thus, a fruit which, as Lodoicea, ought to have six 

 lobes, is found to have not more than two or three, by 

 the constant abortion of the others. A fruit of the 

 Rubiaceae, which ought to have two equal cells and a style 

 springing from the centre, is found to have a single cell 

 and a lateral style, as Pleurogaster. A fruit which ought 

 to have three complete cells, is found, as the Pistachio, 

 to have a single fertile cell, and two others, half or 

 completely abortive, &c. &c. The number of similar 

 examples is immense, for there are few families in which 

 it is not met with. 



The manner in which the carpels are placed with regard 

 to the axis, deserves also to occupy our attention for a 

 short time ; the axis which supports the carpels, such 

 as that which is observed in Magnoliaceae or Anonacese, 

 only becomes an integral part of the fruit when the 

 carpels are united after flowering ; the axis of the 

 Malvaceae, which is generally very visible, bears the 

 carpels adhering by their inner margins, and the carpel- 

 lary styles are either free or applied to it : we see this 

 also in the Geraniaceae, and, in general, in all fruits 

 which have a true axis. But it sometimes happens that 

 the carpels are articulated with a body which makes an 

 integrant part of the style, and through which the 

 vessels which carry the fecundating matter must ne- 

 cessarily pass ; this is observed in the Ochnaceae, for 

 example, and it is the swelling of the base of the style 

 which I have called the Gynobase. Some naturalists 

 have confounded it with the axis properly so called ; 

 but there is this important difference between these two 

 organs — the pistillary cord does not pass through the 

 axis, which I consider an elongation of the pedicel des- 

 tined to support the carpels, whilst it does pass through 



