254 MANUAL OF BOTANY 



ovaries or carpels ; while by others the placentas are regarded 

 as parietal, and the fruit normally one-celled, as defined above. 

 Those who adopt the first view believe that each placenta sends 

 outwards a process towards the walls of the fruit, and that these 

 processes ultimately reach the walls and then become bent 

 inwards and bear the seeds on the curved portions. If these 

 processes remain the fruit is three -celled; if, on the contrary, 

 they become absorbed, it is only one-celled, and the placentas 

 are spuriously parietal. According to the view here adopted, 

 the placentas are parietal, and send processes inwards which 

 meet in the centre, and thus render the fruit spuriously three- 

 celled ; or, if these are imperfectly formed or afterwards ob- 

 literated, the fruit is one-celled. This fruit is illustrated by the 



Fig. 549. Fig. .550. 



Fig. 549. Transverse section of the fruit of the Orange i^Ciinia AuruiUium). 



p. Epicarp. e. Mesocarp. ./. Eudocarp. a, s. Seed^. Fitj. 650. Abnormal 



development of the fruit of the Orange, in which the carpels, ce and «, 

 are more or less distinct instead of being united. 



Melon, Gourd, Cucumber, Elaterium, and other Cuourbitacese. 

 The fruit of the Papaw-tree resembles a pepo generally, except 

 in being superior. 



8. 2'he Nuculaiiiuin. — This fruit, of which the Grape {fig. 

 547) may be taken as an example, does not differ in any impor- 

 tant characters from the berry, except in being superior. 



9. T]ie Hesperidium is a superior, many-celled, few-seeded, 

 indehiscent fruit, consisting of a separable pericarp, formed of 

 the epicarp and mesocarp combined together (fig. 549, p, e), 

 and having an endocarp, d, projecting internally in the form of 

 membranous partitions, which divide the pulp into a number of 

 portions or cells, which are easily separated from each other. 

 This pulp, as already noticed, is a development of succulent 

 parenchyma either from the general inner lining of the ovary, 

 or from the placentas only. The seeds, s, s, are imbedded in 

 the pulp, and attached to the inner angle of each of the portions 

 into which the fruit is divided. The fruits of the Orange, Lemon, 



