110 LETTER VIII. 



ceptacle. This part finally gains a crimson colour, 

 swells more and more rapidly, acquires sweetness and 

 softness, and at last is the delicious fruit you are so 

 well acquainted with : — in that, its final state, the 

 carpels are scattered over its surface in the form of 

 minute grains, looking like seeds, for which they are 

 usually mistaken. You, however, know hetter than 

 to fall into this common error ; for you have seen, 

 that, at first, they had each a style and stigma, which 

 seeds never have ; and you can now, by cutting them 

 open (fig. 8.) detect the seed (fig. 9-) lyi^g in the 

 inside of the shell of the carpel. The Strawberry is, 

 therefore, not exactly a fruit ; but is merely a fleshy 

 receptacle bearing fruit ; the true fruit being the ripe 

 carpels. 



Cinquefoils (Potentilla), are little herbs, usually 

 with pretty yellow flowers, found growing on banks 

 and on commons, among the short grass ; one of them 

 is called Silver-weed (P. anscrina), on account of the 

 white, and almost metallic, appearance of the under- 

 side of its leaves. They are so like the Strawberry in 

 flower, that there is no Botanist who could tell you 

 how to distincjuish them in that state. But thev do 

 not bear Strawberries ; that is to say, after their flower 

 is withered, the receptacle does not become soft and 

 pulpy ; but it always remains hard and dry, and is 

 completely hidden by the carpels. This plant, then, 

 must be very nearly related to the Strawberry. 



The Raspberry and Bramble (Rubus), also claim 

 kindred with the Strawberry, because of their like- 

 ness to it. They are shrubby plants, having their 



