THE UMBELLIFER^E. 



153 



Now look at an ovary that has attained its full size, 

 and lost its petals and stamens. It has turned brown, the 

 furrows on its sides are deepened, and it separates into 

 two halves, commonly called seeds (caraway-seed, for ex- 

 ample). This ovary requires close 

 study. In Fig. 433 you see its 

 two carpels suspended in a pe- 

 culiar manner. You may see in 

 your specimen this slender, forked 

 carpophore. 



The fruit of the Umbelliferae 

 consists of two achenia, called a 

 cremocarp, and each achenium, or 

 carpel, is called a mericarp. The 

 inner faces of the carpels, which 

 are in contact before ripening, are 

 called the commissure. 



Fig. 434 is a magnified view of the back of a mericarp. 

 Five ridges are seen passing from bottom to top of each 

 mericarp, and often four intermediate or secondary ones, 

 which may be, some, none, or all of them winged. In the 



FIG. 432. 



FIG. 433. 

 Cremocarp of 

 two Carpels, 

 each of which 

 is a Mericarp. 



FIG. 435. 

 Cross-section of a Mericarp. 



FIG. 434 Mericarp. 



substance of the thin pericarp are little bags of colored 

 oil, called vittce, that give aromatic and stimulating prop- 

 erties to all the plants of this family. Four of these bags 

 are seen in Fig. 434, in the intervals of the ribs. In the 



