454 



RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT. 



IV. Fleshy and Juicy Fruits. 



882. The drupe, or stone-fruit. In the plum, cherry, peach, 

 apricot, etc., the outer portion (exocarp) of the pericarp (ovary) 

 becomes fleshy, while the inner portion (endocarp) becomes hard 

 and stony, and encloses the seed, or "pit." Such a fruit is known 

 as a drupe, or as a stone-fruit. In the almond the fleshy part 

 of the fruit is removed. 



883. The raspberry and blackberry. While these fruits are 



Fig. 477. 

 Drupe, or stone-fruit, of plum. 



known popularly as "berries," they are not berries in the tech- 

 nical sense. Each ovary, or pericarp, in the flower forms a single 

 small fruit, the outer portion being fleshy and the inner stony, just 

 as in the cherry or plum. It is a drupelet (little drupe). All of 

 the drupelets together make the "berry," and as they ripen the 

 separate drupelets cohere more or less. It is a collection, or 

 aggregation, of fruits, and consequently they are sometimes called 

 collective fruits, or aggregate fruits. In the raspberry the fruit 

 separates from the receptacle, leaving the latter on the stem, 

 while the drupelets of the blackberry and dewberry adhere to 

 the receptacle and the latter separates from the stem. 



