FRUITS 263 
298. Dehiscent fruits. — Pod, or capsule, is the general 
name applied to all dehiscent fruits. The simplest possible 
kind of pod is the follicle, composed of a 
single carpel, like those of 
the larkspur, milkweed, and 
marsh marigold, and may be 
regarded as a modified leaf. 
Examine one of these pods 
and you will find that it 
splits down one side, which 
corresponds to the edges of 
the leaf brought together 
and turned inward to form 
a placenta for the attach- ie ae cop 
ment of the seed. This line ike follicle of Japan 
: : ‘Cojy7. varnish tree: S, 
of union is called a “su- Sith sien one: 
Fia. 389. — Follicl : 
of milkweed, ture,” from a Latin word 8’, inner (ventral) 
* ture. 
meaning a “seam.” nee 
299. The legume. — Get a pod of any kind of bean or 
pea, and observe that it differs 
from the follicle in having two 
sutures or lines of dehiscence. 
One of these runs along the back 
of the carpel and corresponds 
to the midrib of the leaf; the 
other, corresponding to the 
united edges of the carpellary 
leaf, always turns inward, 
toward the axis of the flower, 
and forms the placenta. 
The beggar-ticks, so unpleas- 
antly familiar to most of us, — 
are merely-a kind of legume con- 
392 393 
Fies. pees Out 391, 
, legume of bean: 2, ventral suture; 
stricted between the seeds and a, dorsal suture; 392, constricted 
: : Siie legume of senna (CassiaNelsonia); 398, 
breaking up into separate joints emus ef a Goa iil caniulicon: 
at maturity. What kind of stricted pod. 
