THE NATURE OF FRUITS 333 



It is evident that flowers with more than one pistil 

 (that is, with separate carpels) will produce fruit of different 

 character from that produced by flowers with a single 

 pistil. Each carpel or simple pistil may be said to pro- 

 duce a fruit of its own. Blackberries and raspberries are 

 examples of this. Buttercups and hepatica also show 

 several fruits resulting from a single flower. (See Figure 

 113 A, page 290.) The fruit of the tulip tree is a cone- 

 shaped structure composed of many separate carpels which 

 are closely adherent to each other. 



D. Dry and Fleshy Fruits. — Fruits may be grouped also 

 into those which are dry and those which are fleshy. Dry 

 fruits may be either dehiscent or indehiscent, but fleshy 

 fruits are generally indehiscent. The banana is an excep- 

 tion to this. It is a fleshy fruit which dehisces ; the wild 

 banana peels itself when it grows old. Those plant prod- 

 ucts called fruits in the market belong to the fleshy 

 fruits. Apples, pears, grapes, melons, oranges, bananas, 

 and grapefruit are examples. Dry fruits, though not so 

 called, are even more important commercially than the 

 fleshy fruits, for they include wheat, rice, and corn. 



E. Inflorescence Fruits. — You have noted that one 

 flower, if its carpels are separate, may produce a number 

 of fruits, as in the case of hepatica. (See Figure 11 j A.) 

 It is also to be noted that one fruit may be produced by 

 a number of flowers, as in the case of the fig. (See page 

 318.) The pineapple is another example of a fruit which 

 results from the enlargement of a whole flower cluster, 

 including in this case the stalk and the bracts as well. A 

 pine cone is also a fruit which results from many flowers, 

 bracts, and the stalk which bears them. 



