CHAPTEE XX. 



The Fruit. 1 



218. TVhat Constitutes a Fruit. — It is not easy to make 

 a short and simple definition of what botanists mean by the 

 term fruit. It has very little to do with the popular use of 

 the word. Briefly stated, the definition may be given as 

 follows : The fruit consists of the matured ovary, together 

 with any intimately connected parts. Botanically speaking, 

 the bur of beggar's ticks, Fig. 179, the three-cornered grain of 

 buckwheat, or such true grains as wheat and oats are as much 

 fruits as is an apple or a peach. 



The style or stigma sometimes remains 

 as an important part of the fruit in the 

 shape of a hook, as in the common hooked 

 crowfoot ; or in the shape of a plumed 

 appendage, as in the virgin's bower, often 

 called wild hops. The calyx may develop 

 hooks, as in the agrimony or plumes, as in 

 the thistle, the dandelion, lettuce, and many 

 other familiar plants. In the apple, pear, 

 and very many berries, the calyx becomes 

 enlarged and pulpy, often constituting the 

 main bulk of the mature fruit. The receptacle not infre- 

 quently, as in the apple, forms a more or less important part 

 of the fruit. 



219. The Akene. — The one-celled and one-seeded pistils 

 of the buttercup, strawberry, and many other flowers ripen 

 into a little fruit called an akene, Fig. 169. Such fruits, 

 from their small size, their dry consistency, and the fact that 



' See Gray's Structural Botany, Chapter VII, also Kemer and Oliver, vol. 11, pp. 

 427-438. 



I II 



Fig. 169. — Fruit of 

 "SVood Anemone. 



I, akene cut verti- 

 cally ; n, whole 

 akene. 



