CHAPTER X. 
BRANCH IV. CARPOPHYTA. 
THE SPORE-FRUIT PLANTS. 
301. The distinguishing characteristic of the plants 
which constitute this vast division is the formation of a 
spore-fruit (sporocarp) as a result of fertilization. The 
spore-fruit consists essentially of two different parts; viz., 
(1) a fertile part, which either directly or indirectly pro- 
duces spores, sometimes a few, or even one, or a very great 
number; (2) a sterile part, consisting of cells or tissues de- 
veloped from the cells adjacent to the fertile part, and so 
formed as to envelop it. 
302. This immense group includes plants with chloro- 
phyll, and a large number of species which are parasitic 
or saprophytic, and which, as a consequence, are destitute 
of chlorophyll. In the former, the spore-fruit is small in 
proportion to the size of the vegetative parts of the plant; 
but in the latter, where the vegetative parts are greatly 
reduced, the spore-fruit is proportionately large. In this 
the parasites and saprophytes of the Carpophyta are like 
those of the flowering plants, in which the vegetative or 
assimilative organs are smaller than in those which contain 
chlorophyll; thus the very large spore-fruits of many of 
the larger fungi, and their relatively small mycelium, may 
be compared to the large reproductive organs and the re- 
