rNTEODTTCTIOlf. 2^ 



called arficvlafions, each separate piece an article. The name oi joint is 

 in common language given both to the articulation and the article, but 

 more especially to the former. Some modern botanists however propose to 

 restrict it to the article, giving the name oi joining to the ai-ticulation. 



Fruits have often external appendages, either formed by persistent parts 

 of the flower more or less altered, or which grow out of the ovary or of the 

 adherent part of the calyx. If these appendages are thin and flat, they are 

 called tcings. A Samara is an achene or nut, with a vring at its upper 

 end. If the appendage be a ring of hairs or scales at the top of the fruit, 

 it is called a pappus. 



Where a flower has several distinct ovaries or carpels, these several car- 

 pels will often become as many distinct berries, drupes, capsules, or achenes, 

 as the case may be, inserted on the common receptacle, and forming one 

 fi-uit. The receptacle may remain dry and small, or become enlarged and 

 succulent. If, when ripe, it falls off' with the carpels, it is considered as 

 forming part of the fruit. When a fruit consists of several distinct one- 

 seeded capsules, each capsule is called a cocnis. Sometimes the cells of a sin- 

 gle compound ovary wiU separate, when ripe, into as many disthict cocci. 



The peculiar fruits of some of the large Orders have received distinct 

 names, which will be explained under each Order. Such are the siliqtia 

 and silicule of Crucifers, the legume of Pea-flowers, i\\e pome of Pyrus and 

 allied genera, the pepo of the Goiu-d family, the follicle of the Periwuikle 

 and Asclepias families, the cone of Conifers, the grain or caryopsis of 

 Grasses, etc. 



§ 14. The Seed. 



The real Seed is always enclosed in the pericarp, except in Conifers. It 

 contains, when ripe, an embryo or young plant, either lying within the shell 

 or skin of the seed, and filling, or nearly filling, the cavity (but not attached 

 to it), or more or less immersed in a mealy, oily, fleshy, or horn-like sub- 

 stance, called the alhumen. The presence or absence of this albumen, that 

 is, the distinction between albuminons and exalhuminov.s (or not alhtimi- 

 nov.s) seeds is one of great importance. The embryo and albumen can often 

 only be found or distinguished when the seed is quite ripe, or sometimes 

 only when it begins to germinate. 



The shell of the seed consists usually of two separable coats. The outer 

 coat, called the testa, is usually the principal one, and in most cases the 

 only one attended to in descriptions. It may be hard and crustaceous, or 

 thin and memhranous (skin-hko), dry, or rarely succulent. It is occasionally 

 expanded into wings, or sometimes bears a tuft of hair, cotton, or wool, 

 called a coma. 



The fnnicle is the stalk by which the seed is attached to the placenta. 

 It is occasionally enlarged into a membranous, pulpy, or fleshy appendage 

 sometimes spreading over a considerable part of the seed, or nearly enclosing 

 it, called an aril. A strophiole or carv.ncule is a similar appendage proceeding 

 from the testa. 



The hilum is the scar left on the seed where it separates from the funicle. 



'Y.he perisperm is a name given by botanists to the albumen. By analogy 

 with pericarp, it vrould be better applied to the shell of the seed. 



The Embryo consists of the radicle, or future root, one or two cotyle- 

 dons, or future seed-leaves, and the plinnula, or future bud at the base of 

 the cotyledons. In some seeds, especially when there is no albumen, these 

 several parts are very conspicuous ; in others they are very difficult to dis- 



