436 MORPHOLOGY. 



other from above downwards, so that the stalk-like support (carpophore) 

 of the mericarps is bifurcately split above, or is even bipartite from the 

 base. Dehiscences exactly similar to those of the Geraniacece, occur 

 in all the plants in which the valves of the fruit separate from a central 

 columella ; therefore there never is true axial structure in these. Where, 

 for instance, the axis (spermophore) constitutes the element, considerable 

 portions of the carpels always remain connected with the axis, and the 

 separation therefore equally happens within the continuity of one organ, 

 e. g., in Euphorbiacece. 



D. PHENOMENA EXHIBITED IN THE REMAINING PARTS OP THE FLOWER 

 DURING THE FORMATION OF THE FRUIT AND SEED. 



175. Great varieties are exhibited by the remaining parts 

 belonging to the flower during the development of the germen to 

 the fruit. The stamens and petals are soon after the impregnation 

 cast off at their bases by true articulations, or they wither and die 

 away. In rare cases a part of them remain, especially when they 

 are blended together, and become fleshy or woody (as in Mirabilis). 

 The same occurs in the perianth, but this is more frequently per- 

 sistent. When the floral envelopes are partly or wholly persistent, 

 four layers are sometimes formed in them, like the four which are 

 exhibited in the pericarp, whilst this is only developed as a very 

 thin membrane (as in El&agnut\ or they become succulent and 

 form a false berry (as in Morus). The calyx, on the contrary, 

 persists in the generality of plants until the ripening of the fruit, 

 in which it is either little or not at all altered, as in the Pomece ; or 

 becomes large and inflated, and surrounding the fruit (as in Phy- 

 salis, Trifolium fragiferum) ; or, as a pappus, adorns the fruit as a 

 delicate, membranous, or hairy structure, as in the Valerianacecs, the 

 Composites, &c. ; or half of it may be cast off, as in Datura. In 

 many of the cases above named, these parts assume the appear- 

 ance of true fruit, and this is still more frequently the case with 

 the axial organs of the flower : thus in the Strawberry the recep- 

 tacle becomes fleshy, and appears as fruit ; in Hovenia, Semecarpus, 

 and Anacardium the pedicel becomes transformed into an apparent 

 fruit of similar nature. Most frequently, however, it is the con- 

 cave disc of the peduncle which, becoming fleshy, is developed to 

 what is vulgularly called fruit, as in Rosa, Malus, Pyrus, Ficus, 

 &c. Finally, it is to be observed, that, especially in flowers with- 

 out floral envelopes, the bracts and bracteoles grow with the fruit, 

 become woody, and so form false pericarps, as in the Cupuliferce 

 the so-called cupula, and in Betulinece the scales of the catkin. 



I have here merely remarked the existence of the conditions named, 

 since I must return to them when I come to the more minute treatment 

 of the theory of the fruit. As in all other parts of our science, so also 

 with respect to the fruit, we feel the want of scientific definitions ; and a 

 logical arrangement of the characters met with is nowhere less to be 

 thought of than here. When the peasant talks of the edible part of the 



