lOO THE FRUIT : DISPERSAL OF SEEDS 



(iii) The pome, of which an apple or pear are good examples, 



is an indehiscent 

 fleshy pseudocarp 

 whose gynseciura or 

 true fruit is em- 

 bedded in the re- 

 ceptacle. When the 

 pseudocarp is ripe 

 the pericarp belong- 

 ing to each carpel 

 of the gynsecium 



Fig. 46.— Flower and fruit of gooseberry. A the flower, dcVClopS a tOUgh, 

 __i ^__i_ _ _ '.—C ; . /^ 1 '.^ ir 1 — ».:„.. ^e*\,^ . .« 



calyx-tube, o inferior ovary ; C longitudinal section of the 1 pa tji pry nv boDV 

 flower; 5 transverse section of the young ovary, / placenta " J 



with ovules attached ; D half-ripe fruit. . inner Wall itS Cndo- 



carp — the rest of the pericarp being in some cases fleshy, in 

 others hard and bony. Surrounding and united with these fleshy 

 or bony carpels is the thick, fleshy receptacle of the flower which 

 forms the chief edible portion of the pome (see Fig. 126 and 

 chapter on Rosaceae, p. 387)- ^ 



Ex. 46. — The student should watch the development Qf the common fruits 

 of the garden from the opening of the flowers to the ripe fruit. 



Observe what becomes of the receptacle, calyx, corolla, and androecium 

 in each case. 



He should also examine the fruits of all useful plants of the farm, and 

 those of common weeds. 



Careful descriptions of each should be made, noting whether they are : — 



(1) Dry or succulent. 



(2) Dehiscent or indehiscent and manner of dehiscence. 



(3) Developed from an apocarpous or a syncarpous gynjecium. 



(4) Developed from a superior or an inferior ovary. 



(5) One or many-celled, and the number of seeds in each. 



3. Dispersal of Seeds. — In some cases the ripe seeds or the 

 fruits containing them fall to the ground in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the parent plant; it will however, be 

 observed, that by far the larger proportion of plants exhibit 



