FIELDBOOK OF ILLINOIS WILD FLOWERS 



which comes from an ovule within the ovary, but a fruit may 

 contain many seeds or only a single seed; it may split open to 

 shed the seeds or it may remain closed and invest the true seed 

 permanently with an extra protective layer. Thus, sunflower 

 seeds, acorns and hickory nuts, forms which range in size from 

 the small dandelion seed to the walnut, are dry fruits not easily 

 separated from the single seed which they enclose. 



Fruits classified. — Fruits may be classified into the fleshy 

 fruits and dry truits. Thus the apple, plum and persimmon are 

 fleshy fruits, whereas the maple seed, milkweed pod and cotton 

 boll represent dry fruits. The fleshy fruits are further classified 

 into several categories, depending upon whether they have hard 

 stony centers, separate compartments for the seeds, or bear 

 few or many seeds. The fruit of the apple, quince and pear is 

 called a pome, the fruit ot the gooseberry, persimmon and grape 

 is called a berry and the fruit of the plum and cherry, with a 

 stony covering for the single seed, is called a drupe. 



In the blackberry and raspberry (which are not true berries 

 in the botanical sense) we find a cluster of many tiny druplets, 

 each one of them a cherry or plum in miniature. We call this an 

 aggregated fruit. Here there are many small pistils in the flower, 

 each one of which may develop into a druplet; on the other 

 hand, in plum and peach only one pistil is found, which develops 

 in a similar manner into a single large drupe. Likewise, the 

 strawberry has many simple pistils in the flower, each of which 

 develops into a dry akene, but the receptacle of the flower to 

 which they are attached becomes the conspicuous fleshy part. 

 The fleshy fruit of a garden rose is called by another name, the 

 hip, that of a hawthorn is called a haw, and there are many other 

 names which are used in describing certain special kinds ot 

 fruits. For example, the fruit of a melon is called a pepo. 



DEHISCENT AND INDEHISCENT FRUITS 



The dry fruits may be subdivided into the indehiscent fruits 

 that do not split open, and the dehiscent fruits that split open 

 when ripe. The smallest of the indehiscent fruits are the akenes, 

 illustrated by the fruits of dandelions. These are frequently 

 provided with parachutes consisting of a crown of tiny bristles 

 (the pappus), which carry them over great distances on air 

 currents. Others, such as Spanish needles, have a pappus of 

 little hooks or spines by which the akenes become attached to 

 clothing and are carried about by man and animals, thus effecting 



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