328 Straivbcrry. 



The veins of the Leaves are netted. When the plant is about 

 to multiply itself, it puts forth nuked shoots of two sorts: one of 

 them is prostrate on the ground, and ends in a tuft of leaves 

 which root, into the soil, thus forming a new plant; or as it is 

 technically called, a runner; the other kind of shoot grows 

 nearly erect, and bears at its end a tuft of flowers, which 

 afterwards become fruit, or at least what is commonly called 

 so. The calyx is a flat, green, hairy part, having ten divi- 

 sions ; it is therefore caused by the union of ten sepals, five of 

 which are on the outside of the others, and smaller. The 

 corolla has five petals. The stamens are. very numerous, and 

 arc placed in a crowded ring around the pistil, growing out 

 from the side of the calyx. The pistil consists of a number of 

 carpels, arranged in many rows and with great order upon a 

 central receptacle ; each carpel has a style which arises from 

 below its point and terminates in a slightlv-lobed stigma. In 

 the inside of the ovary is one single ovule. The changes 

 that take place in the organization of a pistil, during its trans- 

 formation into fruit, are many and strange, and in no case 

 more interesting than in this. Watching to detect these in the 

 growth of the Strawberry would show as a first occurrence 

 after the petals have fallen off' and the calyx closes on the 

 tender fruit, the swelling of the receptacle of the carpels, which, 

 in turn, gain a greater size and more shining appearance ; 

 while their styles begin to shrivel up. At a more advanced 

 stage, the carpels are found but little augmented in size, while 

 the receptacle has increased so very much in dimensions, that 

 the carpels are beginning to be separated by it, and the surface 

 of the receptacle can be distinctly seen between them. A 

 little older, and the carpels seem scattered in an irregular 

 manner over the surface of the receptacle, which has become 

 soft and juicy, while they have remained almost stationary in 

 size. All along, the swelling receptacle has been pushing the 

 calyx aside, as being no longer of use to it ; and at last the 

 calyx is scarcely remarked in consequence of the greater size 

 of the receptacle. This part finally gains a crimson color, 

 swells more and more rapidly — acquires sweetness and soft- 

 ness, and at last is the delicious fruit we are all so well 

 acquainted with ; in that, its final state, the carpels are 



