CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE FRUIT 1 



233. What constitutes a Fruit It is not easy to make 



a short and simple definition of what botanists mean by 

 the teim. 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 cotisists of the matured ovary 

 and contents, together with any intimately connected parts. 

 Botanically speaking, the bur of beggar's ticks (Fig. 273), 

 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 ber- 

 ries, the calyx becomes enlarged and pulpy, often consti- 

 tuting the main bulk of the mature fruit. The receptacle 

 not infrequently, as in the apple, forms a more or less 

 important part of the fruit. 



234. Indehiscent and Dehiscent Fruits All of the 



fruits considered in the next three sections are indehiscent, 



1 See Gray's Structural Botany, Chapter VII, also Keruer and Oliver's 

 Natural History of Plants, Vol. II, pp. 427-438. 



221 



