CHAPTER VIII. 

 THE FRUIT. 



1. The first great purpose of the plant is to attain its own 

 development as an individual organism. The second, equally 

 important, is the production of seeds, or reproduction of 

 its kind. The seeds with the ovary which surrounds them, 

 and any additional adnate parts that may be present, con- 

 stitute the Fruit. The ripened ovary with the enclosed 

 seeds form the fruit in a very large number of our com- 

 mon plants, as the Buttercups, Bean, Larkspur, Tulip, Wheat, 

 etc. In the apple and similar fruits the calyx-tube which 

 adheres to the ovary becomes ver}'- much enlarged and 

 juicy. The fruit in this case consists of the ripened ovary 

 and adnate calyx. The strawberry consists mainly of the 

 enlarged and juicy end of the stem — which is called the torus. 

 In case of the Rose, the fruit — 

 called the hip — is a hollow torus 

 containing the ovaries, being al- 

 most closed at the top. The fig 

 is a similar fruit, but within the 

 torus were many flowers instead 

 of a single one (Fig. 86) as in the 

 Rose. The pineapple, mulberry, 

 pine-cone, etc. also result from the 

 union of several flowers. Such are 

 designated as multiple ftnits. 



A search for fruits of the native plants will result in a collection of rep- 

 resentatives of all the kinds mentioned in this chapter. These should he 

 carefully studied in the class-room and properly arranged. Figures of the 

 various kinds of appendages designed for assistance in the dispersion of 



57 



Fig. 86. 



