68 FRUITS 



a more or less juicy or fleshy interior surrounded by a 

 protecting skin, but the stone within this is not a mere 

 seed, such as we find in the berry, but con- 

 sists of the inner layer of the pericarp, which 

 has become hard and bony. Open the stone 

 and the seed will be seen with its own 

 coverings inside. Have you ever found a 

 130. -Vertical stone with more than one kernel to it; for 

 section of a drupe instance, in eating almonds.? This fact 



(after Gray) . ' ° 



shows that the stone is not a seed coat, but 

 the hardened inner wall of a seed vessel or ovary ; for 

 a seed coat can never contain more than one seed any 

 more than the same skin can contain more than one 

 animal. In a green drupe, before the stone has hardened, 

 its connection with the fleshy part is very evident. This 

 stony layer enveloping the seed is the main distinction 

 between the drupe and the berry, and it is not always 

 possible to make it out except by an examination of the 

 young ovary. Of course there can be but one stone to 

 a carpel, as each carpel has only one inner coat to be 

 hardened ; but where a drupe is composed of several 

 carpels clustered together, as we saw them in the apple, 

 each one may produce a stone from its inner coat while 

 the outer coats become confluent, as in the melon, and 

 in this way a drupe may be several seeded, as is actually 

 the case in the dogwood, elder, etc. 



All the fruits that have been considered in Sections 73— 

 80 belong to the class of fleshy ones. These form the great 

 bulk of the fruits sold in the market and served upon our 

 tables, and are of special importance to the horticulturist. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 



1 . Examine such of the fruits named below as you can obtain, and tell 

 to which of the four kinds described each belongs : asparagus, horse nettle, 

 China berry, smilax, hackben-y, pawpaw, guava, persimmon, red pepper, 

 orange, buckeye, gherkin, pumpkin, prickly pear, mangrove, whortle- 

 berry, banana, date, olive, maypop, cedar berry, Ogeechee lime. 



2. Which are the commonest of fleshy fruits in autumn? 



