CLASSIFICATION OF FRUITS 5 1 



Where the pericarp consists of two layers of different texture, as in the 

 Plum, the outer layer is called exocarp, the inner, endocarp. When the 

 external la}"er is thin, it is sometimes termed the epicaep, when the 

 middle or inner layers are fleshy or pulpy they constitute the sarcocarp. 



When the endocarp within the sarcocarp is hard, forming a shell 

 or stone, this is termed a putamen. When three concentric layers 

 are distinguishable in a pericarp, the middle one is called mesocarp. 



Fruits are either Dehiscent or Indehiscent according as they 

 discharge or retain their seeds. Dehiscent fruits open regularly, or 

 normally. When the pericarp splits ^'ertically through the whole 

 or a part of its length, along sutures or lines of coalescence of contiguous 

 carpels. Legumes usually dehisce by both sutures. Irregular or 

 abnormal dehiscence has no reference to normal sutures, as where it is 

 transverse or circumscissUe, extending around the capsiile either entirely 

 or forming a hinged lid, as in Hyoscyamus, or detached. 



Dehiscence is called porous or apical when the seeds escape 

 through pores at the apex, as in the Poppy; valvular, when valve-like 

 orifices form in the wall of the capsule. Valvular dehiscence is 

 SEPTiciDAL when the constituent carpels of a pericarp become disjoined, 

 and then open along their ventral suture; Loculicidal, dehiscence into 

 loculi, or cells, in which each component carpel splits down its dorsal 

 suture, and the dissepiments remain intact; Septifragal dehiscence, 

 a breaking awa}- of the valves from the septa or partitions. 



Classification of Fruits (according to structure). — Simple Fruits 

 result from the ripening of a single pistil in a flower. 



Aggregate Fruits are the product of several distinct pistil ripen- 

 ings in one flower, the cluster of carpels being crowded on the receptacle 

 ing one mass, as in the Raspberry, Blackberry, and Strawberry. 



JMuLTiPLE Fruits are those which are the product of a flower 

 cluster instead of a single flower. 



Simple Fruits are either Dry or Fleshy. The first maj- be divided 

 into Dehiscent, those which split open when ripe; and Indehiscent, 

 those which do not. 



Dry, Dehiscent, Simple and Aggregate Fruits. — The Follicle is 

 a pod formed by a simple pistil and dehiscent by one suture, as Aconite 

 and Staphisagria. 



A Legume is a pod formed by a simple pistfl and dehiscent by both 

 sutures. The name legume is restricted to the fruits of the natural 

 familyLeguminosae, and includes all the modifications which it represents. 



