176 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



form kinds of convex discs and pedicels; the cone, which 

 has then very improperly received the name of nut, has 

 a globular appearance ; it is close and semi-fleshy in its 

 young state, but at maturity it becomes dry, and the 

 scales separate by kinds of slits which give passage to 

 the caryopses or achenia which they enclose, and are 

 usually falsely called seeds. The Juniper differs from 

 the Cypress only in the bracts, thick at the top, being 

 fleshy and much more united, whence it results that the 

 fruit at maturity presents the appearance of a globular 

 berry, which name it has improperly received : the traces 

 of the union of the bracts are hardly perceptible, and 

 the enclosed caryopses have still more the appearance of 

 simple seeds. Thus the apparently simple berry of the 

 Juniper is formed by the natural union of fruits pro- 

 ceeding from several flowers, nearly as the berry of 

 several species of Anona and of Dillenia is formed by 

 the natural union of the carpels proceeding from one 

 flower. 



These apparent affinities between the fruit of different 

 classes, have frequently caused analogous terms to be 

 used in popular nomenclature. The fruits of the Chest- 

 nut (JEsculus) and those of the Horse-Chestnut have 

 a very great external resemblance. The Chestnut, 

 seen at the time of flowering, presents several female 

 flowers, collected in an involucrum, which enlarges and 

 becomes very spiny ; each flower has an ovary surrounded 

 by an adherent calyx ; this ovary is formed of three 

 united carpels, each containing two ovules : during and 

 after flowering, several of the seeds become abortive ; and 

 there sometimes remains but one. 



In the Horse-Chestnut, on the contrary, the flowers 

 are perfectly distinct, and the calyx is not adherent ; the 

 ovary is formed of three carpels united into a body, 

 bristly externally, each of which encloses two ovules ; 



