GROUP IV. PHANEROGAMIA: ANGIOSPERM-B. 



529 



FIG. 340. Fruitof lllidum 

 anisatum: st pert uncle; // 

 the separate frnits, each 

 with a seed (s) forming an 

 apocarpous fructification. 



When the fruit consists of one or more monomerous ovaries, it 

 is said to be apocarpous : examples of this occur in Ranunculus, in 

 the Raspberry, where the individual ovaries are succulent, and in 

 the Star- Anise (Fig-. 340). The individual 

 fruits may be developed in very different 

 ways ; they may be dehiscent or iridehis- 

 cent, dry or succulent. 



When the fruit consists of a single poly- 

 merous ovary, it is said to be syncarpous. 

 When the carpels of such a fruit separate 

 septicidally during the process of ripening, 

 so that it ultimately appears as if a number 

 of distinct fruits were present, it is termed 

 a schizocnrp : it may thus split into only 

 two distinct fruits, as in the Umbelliferee (Fig. 341); or, as in the 

 Geraniacese and many Malvaceae, into several distinct fruits : each 

 of them is termed a coccus or mericarp ; the individual coccus 

 is generally indehiscent (dehiscent in most Euphorbiacese). 



In various mnltil ocular ovaries only one loculus becomes fully 

 developed and bears seeds, as in Valerian, 

 the Coco-Nut, and the Oak; the others 

 are abortive. It sometimes happens in 

 cultivated plants that the fruit becomes 

 perfectly formed without any development 

 of seed, as in a particular seedless variety 

 of Grape, the Banana, the Pine-Apple, 

 etc. 



In all true fruits the wall of the ovary 

 forms the pericarp or rind. In some more 

 or less succulent fruits, the pericarp con- 

 sists of three distinct layers ; the external 

 layer is the epicarp, the middle the meso- 

 carp, and the innermost the endocarp. 



The following varieties of true fruits have been 

 distinguished by the character of the pericarp, 

 whether it is dry or succulent, hard or soft, and by 

 the dehiscence or indehiscence of the pericarp. 



A. DRY FRUITS. The pericarp is woody or cori- 

 aceous; when ripe, the sap has usually disappeared 

 from all the cells. 



I. Dry Indehiscent Fruits. The pericarp does not 



FIG. 341. Carum Carui, 

 one of the Umbelliferae. A 

 Ovary of the flower (/). 

 B Ripe scbizocarp which 

 has divided into two cocci 

 or mericarps (m), a portion 

 of the median wall (a) forms 

 the carpophore. 



