CH. VII, 2] 



MORPHOLOGY OF FRUITS 



347 



connection with fruits; "Cedar apples" are only a Fungus 

 product; and the " fructification " of Fungi refers only to 

 their spore masses. 



2. THE STRUCTURE AND MORPHOLOGY OF FRUITS 



The structure and morphology of fruits are largely de- 

 termined in the ovaries from which they originate, fruits 

 being primarily ovaries further developed and specialized. 

 The particular features of the fruit have usually an obvious 

 connection with the method of dis- 

 semination of the seeds, the accom- 

 plishment of such dissemination 

 being commonly a function of the 

 fruit. 



The structural features of the 

 ovaries walls, partitions, number 

 of compartments and placentae 

 can usually be recognized clearly, 

 and in the same relative connections, 

 in the fruits, while the DEHISCENCE, 

 or opening through which the seeds 

 escape, likewise follows as a rule 

 some morphological lines of the 

 ovary. Deviations in these features, however, often occur, 

 and can usually be traced to a connection with the method 

 of dissemination. 



The fruit structure is clearest in dry fruits. Thus a typical 

 fruit of the simplest sort is represented in the pod of Colum- 

 bine (Fig. 238), which is developed from an ovary of one 

 carpel, bearing one row of seeds; these are arranged along 

 a parietal placenta, formed where the edges of the carpellary 

 leaf unite, and the pod in dehiscence simply dis-unites those 

 edges. In the Green Pea, however, of precisely the same con- 

 struction, the pod dehisces both by disuniting the edges and 

 also forming a new split along the back or midrib of the car- 

 pellary leaf. Pods originating in two or more carpels like- 



FIG. 238. Pods of Col- 

 umbine. (From Bailey.) 



