156 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
THE FRUIT. 
Flowers have but a short-lived existence ; after fecundation they 
disappear ; the ovary, rendered fruitful and enlarged in size, alone 
remains. The withered and dried-up fragments of the corolla 
strew the ground, or are carried about by the wind. But though 
the plant has lost much that embellished it, though it no longer 
possesses the brilliant ornaments which attracted observation and 
charmed all eyes, it still retains an interest of its own. A new 
decoration replaces the former one, leaving nothing to reg? ot 1D 
the change. To the white flowers of the wild rose succeeds the 
young fruit, tinted with a pleasing green. The mountain ash, 
the medlar, and the buckthorn, in casting off delicately-tinted 
corolla, display their fruit, which soon changes to a bright ™ 
colour. The perfumed flowers of the orange-tree are succeeded by 
