74 NOMENCl>ATURE. 



cular (hilocular'is, triloadarls). A kind of compartment, which 

 opens with a certain elasticity, is called cocaim, whence the 

 Euphorbia?, and similar plants, are called tricoccdc^ because 

 their fruits have three such compartments. 



Valves (valvcE), are the side-pieces, or exterior walls of the 

 compartments, into which the pericarp is divided. Hence a 

 fruit is called bivalve, trivalve {bivalvis, trwalvis). 



Partitions {dissepimentum), are the interior walls of the 

 compartments. They are often formed, as in the Andro- 

 medae, by the valves turned inwards. They are then called 

 dissepimejita valvar'ia, and valvas septiferas. 



We must also notice the suture {suturd). This is the place 

 in which two valves are united. The suture properly, there- 

 fore, points out the springing of the fruit from valves ; but 

 the genus Eucledium Br. has distinct sutures, and yet the 

 fruit does not spring ; and Bunias, in the unripe fruit, sliews 

 sutures which disappear during the ripening. The opening 

 of the valves often takes place from above to the middle 

 of the fruit (semivalves fructus) ; they often also open from 

 below, as in the Orchideae and Triglochin. 



Ill, 



An uncommonly important part is that which has been 

 called the placc7ita {placenta, or reecptaculum), which cither 

 stands like a free column in the middle, or is formed by the 

 thickening of the partitions, or even by the bending in of the 

 valves; (Tab. I. Fig. 21). At the same time, every column 

 that is observable in the fruit is not the placenta. In the 

 capsules of the Mosses, for instance, we observe an entirely 

 free central column ; but the seeds are fastened to the walls 

 of the capsule. The way and manner in which the placenta 

 is formed is called placcntatwn. 



In the Umbellatas Hoffman has called the column ftperma- 

 podium. 



112. 



A nut {nucv)^ is a fruit with a shell, which docs not burs-t 

 of itself This shell is often surrounded liy an external tough 



2 



