142 MOEPHOLOGT, OR COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 



separate in the first way are called valves ; and this mode of burst- 

 ing is termed sutured or valvular dehiscence. The separated carpels 

 in the second mode are called cocci if they do not open as explained 

 in a subsequent paragraph. Sometimes the valves only separate 

 for a certain distance from the summit, forming teeth (fig. 273). 

 In a few cases the dehiscence is porous ; in others the upper end 

 of the fruit falls off like a lid, by transverse or circumscissile dehis- 

 cence (fig. 274). 



Fig. 273. Fig. 274. Fig. 275. 



F''g. 273. Burst capsule of Cerastium. 



Fig. 274 Capsule of Anagallis (sometimes called a pyxis), opening by circumscissile dehis- 

 cence. 

 Pig. 275. Burst fruit of Illieium (Star Anise). 



Valvular Dehiscence. When the dehiscence is valvular the 

 fruit is named bi-, tri-, multivalvular according to the number of 

 valves or pieces into which it splits. This mode of dehiscence is 

 subject to several modifications, according as the splitting takes 

 place through the dorsal or through the ventral suture, or through 

 both at the same time. It is still further complicated by the cir- 

 cumstance that the placentas sometimes remain attached to the 

 valves, while at other times they break away from, the valves, as in 

 the condition called septifragal. 



A few examples may be here given of the various modes in which 

 valvular dehiscence is effected; and the student will find the subject far 

 more readily intelligible if he refer to some collection of seed-vessels where 

 the fruits are correctly named. In the case of simple or of apocarpous 

 fruits, there is no partition or dissepiment, the cavity being simple ; in such 

 cases valvular dehiscence takes place : a, through the ventral suture, as 

 in the Columbine (Aquilecjia}, the Star Anise (Illieium, fig. 275) ; or, /3, 

 through the dorsal suture, as in Magnolia ; or, y, through both sutures 

 at the same time, as in the pod of the Pea and other Leguminous plants 

 (fig. 286). In this latter case there are two valves, but only a single 

 carpel. 



In unilocular syncarpous fruits, where the compound carpels cohere by 

 their edges which are not infolded, dehiscence takes place : a, through the 

 ventral sutures, when the placentas are found on the margins of the valves, 

 as in Gentians (fig. 253), each valve in this case representing a carpel ; /3, 



