14 



Fruits. 



By Hugh Main, B.Sc, F.E.S. Read September <^th, 1909. 



The popular and botanical conceptions of a fruit are by no means 

 the same. The first example of a fruit a non-botanical speaker 

 would give would probably be an apple, and a strawberry would find 

 a ready mention, while a tomato would be ruled out as a vegetable. 



The botanist would admit the tomato as the best example of the 

 three, the apple being called a spurious fruit, while in the case of the 

 strawberry, botanical authorities themselves would differ as to how 

 it should be regarded. Some call it a succulent fruit, while others 

 consider the small hard bodies on the surface of the strawberry as 

 the true fruits, calling each an achene. Personally I incline to this 

 latter view, and call the product of each carpel which remains separate 

 and distinct a fruit. 



According to my definition a fruit consists essentially of the 

 mature ovary or ovaries of a plant. Where the ovaries remain free 

 or separate we have separate fruits ; where they are united we have 

 a compound fruit. In some cases other parts of the flower besides 

 the ovaries are present and enter into the composition of the fruit. 

 Such fruits are called spurious fruits in contradistinction to the true 

 fruits, but in many cases the- separation is not adhered to even by 

 systematists who use these divisions. 



I think my definition of a fruit can be justified logically and 

 practically, and it gets over some of the difficulties of one's scheme of 

 classification. 



The term seed-vessel has some advantages over that of fruit, and 

 perhaps conveys a better all-round idea of the subject of this paper, 

 as the larger proportion of my illustrations are taken from the dry 

 fruits, which can be so easily collected and kept safely for study or 

 demonstration. Specimens of dry fruits can, of course, be found 

 most abundantly in autumn, but odd examples may be picked up at 

 almost any time of the year. One's own garden, and the gardens of 

 our friends, will supply many interesting examples, while others may 

 be found on every country walk, by hedgerow, wood, or stream. 



As regards a scheme of classification, no two authorities you may 

 consult will agree as to the details of their plans, and many seem to 

 adopt quite different principles. Each student will probably build 

 up a scheme of his own, and should endeavour to illustrate it by 

 examples. 



The development of the fruit after fertilization of the ovules is a 



