CHAPTER XIX 



THE FRUIT 1 



218. What constitutes a Fruit. — It is not easy to make 

 a short and simple definition of wiiat botanists mean by 

 the term fruit. It has very little to do with the popular 

 use of the word. Briefly stated, the definition may be 

 given as follows : The fruit consists of the matured ovary 

 and contents, together with ., 

 any intimately connected 

 parts. Botanically speak- 

 ing, the bur of beggar" s-ticks 

 (Fig. 148), the three-cornered 

 grain of buckwheat, or such 

 true grains as wheat and 

 oats, are as much fruits as 

 is an apple or a peach. 



219. Indehiscent and 

 Dehiscent Fruits. — All of 

 the fruits considered in the 

 next three sections are indehiscent, that is, they remain 

 closed after ripening. Dehiscent fruits when ripe open in 

 order to discharge their seeds ; three modes of dehiscence 

 are shown in Fig. 146. The three classes which immedi- 

 ately follow Sect. 222 are aU dehiscent. 



1 See Gray's Structural Botany, Chapter VII, also Kemer and Oliver's 

 Natural History of Plants, Vol. II, pp. 427^138. 



185 



Fig. 136. Akenes of a Buttercup. 



A, head of akenes ; B, section of a 

 single akene (magnified), a, seed. 



