CHAPTER VIII. 



THE FRUIT. DISPERSAL OF SEEDS. 



I . It is from the flower of a plant that the fruit arises after the 

 completion of a physiological process known as fertilisation. A 

 satisfactory account of the latter and its effects can, however, only 

 be given after the student has become acquainted with the finer 

 details of plant structure ; it is therefore deferred to Chapter xxii. 



It is sufficient here to remark that the process consists in the 

 union of a certain portion of the contents of the pollen-grain with 

 a minute structure termed an egg-cell situated within the ovule, 

 after which the latter grows and finally becomes a seed. 



Soon after fertilisation has taken place, the andrceciura and 

 corolla of the flower usually drop off or wither up, and sometimes 

 the calyx falls also. The stigma and style of the gynsecium 

 generally wither, but the ovary in all cases remains, and grows 

 extensively to allow the rapid development of the seeds within it. 



When the gynsecium has reached its full state of development 

 and the seeds within its ovary have become ripe, it is termed the 

 fruit of the plant, and the carpel-walls of the ripe gynsecium 

 enclosing and protecting the seeds constitute the pericarp of 

 the fruit. 



It must be observed that the term ' fruit,' in popular language, 

 is applied to a number of different parts of plants which are 

 often in no way connected with the ripe gynsecium of the flower, 

 and are therefore not fruits in this restricted botanical sense. In 

 the strawberry and apple, for example, the succulent edible por- 

 tion is the enlarged receptacle of the flower, the true fruit in the 

 former being the small seed-like bodies (achenes) studded over 



