48 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



English-grown pine-apple usually is from ten to twelve shil- 

 lings per pound, while the imported ones rarely exceed half- 

 a-crown for the whole fruit. 



The pine-apple is that variety of fructification called a so- 

 rosis : it consists of a number of bracts which have swollen 

 until they have enclosed the seeds in their rich juicy pulp. 



The Water Melon. Cucumis (or Cucurbita) Citrullus, 

 variety Jace. (Nat. Ord. Cucurbit 'acece.) 



A small quantity of this fruit reaches the English market 

 annually. It is a large oval melon, with dark green rind ; 

 the flesh is white, of a delicate sweet flavour, but very wa- 

 tery and insipid if not quite ripe. We annually receive 

 them from Malaga and Portugal, in a sort of open-worked 

 rush basket, each containing but two or three melons j they 

 are in these baskets suspended to the ceiling of the ship's 

 cabin, and thus avoid bruising and preserve their freshness. 

 They are not usually considered unwholesome. 



The Cranbeery. Oxycoccos macrocarpus. (Nat. Ord. 

 Vacciniacea.) (Plate IY. fig. 18.) 



Probably the kegs of cranberries we receive from North 

 America and Newfoundland contain a mixture of the species 

 above named, with the 0. jpalustris and 0. erythrocarjpus. 

 They are preserved in spring-water, and packed in small 



