THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 1526.— Strawberry. (Fragaria vesca). A, complete 

 plant; B, flower; C, flower in longitudinal section; D, 

 pistil ; E, pistil in longitudinal section : F, fruit ; p 

 corolla and c calyx. 



blackberry, as will be seen by reference 

 to Fig. 1526, B and C. 



The last four groups of figures exam- 

 ined, those of the cherry, apple, black- 

 berry and strawberry, illustrate members 

 of one plant family— the rose family or 

 Rosacea;. Since this family furnishes 

 us in this region with the most of our 

 tree and bush fruits, it may be worth 

 while just here to take a comparative 

 view of the flowers of its members, as 

 illustrated in Fig. 1527. It will 

 be noted that in all these six 

 flowers the calyx, corolla and 

 stamens are borne on the rim 

 of a cup. The manner of arrange- 

 ment of the pistils is what chiefly 

 distinguishes the flowers from one 

 another. At C we have the type 

 of the cherry flower, with a single 

 pistil in the bottom of the cup ; 

 at D is the same relation, except 

 that there are several pistils in- 

 stead of one ; at E, which is the 

 type of the rose flower, the pistils 

 are borne on the sides as well as 

 on bottom of the cup ; at F, the 

 apple flower, the base of the pistils 



are fused with the cup ; while at 

 A and B, types of the strawberry 

 and blackberry, the pistils grow 

 from a dome rising from the 

 bottom of the cup. 



Returning to a consideration- 

 of the fruit of the blackberry 

 and the strawberry, we find that 

 although the flowers are so nearly 

 alike, the edible parts of the fruit 

 are much unlike. The pistils in 

 the blackberry become thick-wall- 

 ed, just as the single one does in 

 the cherry, and these fleshy pistils 

 give us the appearance shown in 

 Fig. 1525, C, and Fig. 1528, B, 

 the calyx of the flower still show- 

 ing beneath the fruit. In the 

 strawberry on the other hand, the 

 pistils do not become fleshy ; they remain 

 small and become dry and hard, while 

 the domed axis from which they grow 

 swells enormously, furnishing thus the 

 edible part. Therefore the blackberry 

 is composed mostly of succulent pistils 

 attached to a small central stem or core, 

 while the strawberry is composed mostly 

 of the enlarged central stem, in whose 

 surface are borne the dry pistils. 



Fig. 1528 shows a series of three ber- 



FlG. 1527.— Comparative view of flowers of the Rose Family 

 A, Marsh Five Finger (Potentilla palustris> ; B. Avens 

 (Geum urbanum) ; C, Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla alpina) ; 

 D, Meadow-Sweet (Spiraea decumbens) ; E, Dog Rose 

 (Rosa canina) ; F, Apple (Pirus malus) ■ c calyx and p 

 corolla. 



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