ITS KINDS. 311 



achenia, &c., remain indehiscent ; while most pods or capsules dehisce 

 at maturity. 



590. Some pods burst irregularly when ripe and dry ; others open 

 and shed their seeds by definite pores, as the Poppy, or by larger 

 holes, chinks, or valves, as the Campanula, Snapdragon, &c. ; or by 

 a transverse line cutting off the top of the pod, as in Henbane and 

 Purslane. These are modes of irregular dehiscence. But 



591. Dehiscence, when regular and normal, is effected by a vertical 

 separation or splitting, viz. by the opening of one or both sutures of the 

 ovary (543), or, in a fruit resulting from a compound ovary (548), 

 by the disjunction of the united parts. The several modes of dehis- 

 cence will be characterized under the kinds of fruit in which they 

 occur (607-614). 



Sect. II. The Kinds op Feuit. 



592. The various kinds of fruits have been minutely classified 

 and named ; but the terms in ordinary use are not very numerous. 

 A rigorously exact and particular classification, discriminating be- 

 tween the fruits derived from simple and from compound pistils, or 

 between those with and without an adnate calyx, becomes too recon- 

 dite and technical for practical purposes. It is neither convenient 

 nor philosophical to give a substantive name to every variation of 

 the same organ. For all ordinary purposes it will suffice to char- 

 acterize the principal kinds under the four classes of Simple, Aggre- 

 gate, Accessory or Anthocarpous, and Multiple Fruits. 



593. Simple Fruits are those which result from the ripening of a 

 single pistil, whether with or without a calyx or other parts adnate 

 to it. This division comprises most of the kinds of fruit which have 

 distinctive names, and those of the other classes are mainly aggre- 

 gations or combinations of these. 



594. Simple Fruits may be conveniently divided into Fleshy 

 fruits, Stone fruits, and Dry fruits. The leading kind of the 

 first division is 



595. The Berry {Bacca), an indehiscent fruit which is fleshy or 

 pulpy throughout. The grape, gooseberry, currant, cranberry, and 

 tomato are familiar examples. 



596. The Hesperidiam (orange, lemon, and lime) is merely a berry 

 with a leathery rind. 



