CHAPTER X. 



BRANCH IV. CARPOPHYTA. 



THE SPOBE-FBUIT 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 difiEerent 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- 



