304 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



nature of the plant. Sometimes the carpels merely 

 dry and shrivel up, fonning a membranous bag 

 around the seed (Fig. 88) ; at other times they 



Fig. 88. - Fruit of 

 Elm, membrauous 

 and winged. 



In the legume, or Pea -pod (Fig. 92), and in the 

 stone fruits, the carpels alone constitute the fruit, 

 the outer coats of which in the latter case are soft, 

 the inner hard and woody ; but in pippin fruits like 

 the Apple or Pear the edible portion of the fruit is 

 not the ripe carpels, but the fleshy flower-stalk which 

 has grown up around them (Fig. 93). The carpels 



Fig. 89.— Fruit of Cherry, succulent. 



Fig. 90.— Succulent Fruit 

 of Cherry, cut open to 

 show the stone enclos- 

 ing the kernel or seed. 



Fig. 91.— Succulent 

 Fruits of Currant. 



Fisj. 92. — Legume of 

 Pea opening when 

 rip ; by two valves. 



Fig. 93. — Section of Fruit of Apple, composed of the swollen 

 top of the flower-stalk, surmounted by the remains of 

 the cali X or " eye." The section shows the stalk, /, dilat- 

 ing into tbe fleshy portion, tc, surrounding and enclosing 

 the true fruit-carpels or "core," e, which in their turn 

 enclose the pips or seeds, s; c is tbe eye or remains of 

 the calyx : st, tne remains of the stamens. 



Fig. 94.— Strawberry. The 

 tbalamus or axis of the 

 flower is swollen above the 

 calyx, and bear ds the ' ' pips ' ' 

 or true fruits, as it wer.', 

 sunk in its surface. 



become hard and woody, or soft outside and hard 

 within, as in the so-called "stone fruit " (Figs. 89, 90), 

 or entirely fleshy, as in the Grape or Currant (Fig. 

 91). And between these several conditions there is 

 every possible intermediate stage. Nor is this all ; 

 the "fruit" is often constituted, not only by the 

 ripened carpels, but by those organs combined with 

 others. 



here are represented by the " core.'' In the Melon, 

 and the Cucumber, the Currant and Gooseberry, 

 the upper end of the flower-stalk in like manner 

 grows over the true carpels, which thus become em- 

 bedded in the interior. That this is so is shown 

 by watching the mode of growth, and, where that 

 cannot be done, by observing the remains of the 

 calyx at the top of the fruit, as in the eye of a Pear. 



