346 A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY [Ch. VII, 1 



nut, a foot or two in diameter, and weigliing some thirty 

 pounds. The largest fleshy fruit is probably the Jack fruit 

 or Durian of the tropics, often mentioned by travelers. 



In sha-pe, fruits are diverse as possible, though tending to 

 rounded forms like the ovaries from which they are developed. 

 Sometimes thej^ answer very closely to the shape and aspect 

 of a single seed, to such a degree as to be commonly mis- 

 taken therefor. 



In texture, the difference between Avy and fleshy fruits 

 becomes very manifest. In dry fruits the walls of the ovary 

 are parchment-like or woodj^ as in most pods, or even al- 

 most ivory hard, as in some nuts and fruit pits, while in 

 fleshy fruits the ovary walls become soft, pulpy, nutritious, 

 and palatable, as we, and other animals, know very 

 well. 



In color, the two classes are likewise contrasted. The 

 dry fruits are mostly brown or gray, like bark, indicating that 

 their color has no bearing on their function, and is simply 

 that which liappens to be natural to ripening woody tissues. 

 The fleshy fruits, on the other hand, are mostly bright colored, 

 — red, yellow, purple, and sometimes white, — in marked 

 contrast to their respective backgrounds. Such colors we 

 naturally assume to indicate a functional connection with a 

 seeing eye, — an assumption which proves to be true, as a 

 later section will indicate. 



The fruits, of botanical terminology, include some struc- 

 tures which are popularly rated as vegetables, notably Cu- 

 cumbers, Pum])kins, and Scjuashes. These, however, are 

 forms of fleshy fruits, as their whole structure attests. 



Fruits produce seeds in diverse numbers from one to many 

 hundreds. Dry fruits which contain several seeds open or 

 dehisce to allow their escape, but fleshy fruits, no matter how 

 many their seeds, remain closed, the seeds l)eing released 

 in other ways which we shall presentlj- consider. 



As in case of other organs, popular terminology is some- 

 what uncritical. Thus the "fruit-dots" of Ferns have no 



