THE ALMOND TRIBE. 117 



was five is shewn by the five cavities in the centre of 

 the fruit, each of which contains one or two seeds. 

 Now it is obvious, if this description be carefully con- 

 sidered, that the fruit is the only thing by which the 

 Apple is known from a Rosaceous plant. The same 

 kind of structure is found in the Peai\ and the 

 Quince^ and the Mountain Ash. In the Medlar and 

 the Hawthorn it seems as if the fruit contained two 

 or three stones instead of the open cavities of the 

 Apple ; but in reality the only peculiarity in those 

 fruits consists in the linino- of their cavities beinsf 

 bony instead of thin and papery, as you may easily 

 satisfy yourself by looking at their flowers. All the 

 plants of this tribe are as harmless as the genuine 

 species of the Rose tribe itself. 



The other group to which I have referred is the 

 Almond tribe. This is less diff'erent in structure 

 than the Apple tribe, but more dissimilar in sensible 

 properties. It consists of species which have all the 

 essential parts of structure of a common Rosaceous 

 plant, but which bear fruit like that of a Plum. The 

 Plum-tree itself, for example, has leaves with netted 

 veins and stipules at their base ; a calyx of five 

 parts ; five petals ; and a great number of stamens 

 arising out of the sides of the calyx. But in room of 

 many carpels, there is only one, and that one changes 

 to a fleshy body, containing one single seed, enclosed 

 in a hard stone. The hard stone is the lining of the 

 cell of the carpel, separated from the fleshy rind 

 that is on the outside. This kind of fruit is called 

 a Drupe. What is found in the Plum exists 



