322 



that's it; 



Fruit is divided into two dis- 

 tinct parts — the seed, and the 

 pericarp, or investing substance. 

 The y&ricarp is composed of three 

 parts, or layers, one within the 

 other. For example : the peri- 

 carp of the apple, 880, consists 

 of an external layer, or skin, 

 epicarp, 4 ; the internal layer, 

 endocarp, 6 ; and the fleshy sub- 

 stance, sarcocarp, 5, lying be- 

 tween them. Thus, the outer 

 skin is the epicarp ; the pulpy 

 substance, the sarcocarp ; and 

 the tough thick covering to the 

 seeds, the endocarp. 



The same relation is found in 

 stone-fruit, the shell of the nut 

 being the endocarp. The epi- 

 carp, or outer covering, is less 

 subject to variation than the 

 other parts ; but the sarcocarp and 

 endocarp assume every variety 

 of form and consistence. 



In certain instances, the ar- 

 rangement of the flowers indicates 

 the arrangement of the fruit — 

 as in the currant, gooseberry, &c. 

 But the blossoms of the apple, 

 plum, pea, &c, afford no indica- 

 tion of the various fruits that 

 are to succeed them. 



The most common forms of 

 fruit are the pomum, or apple, 3 ; 



the drupe, or peach and plum, 

 7, 8 ; the glans, as the acorn, 

 578 ; the pine-apple, 9, the fruit 



of which is a 

 scaly berry, 

 surmounted by 

 a crown of 

 spinous leaves. 

 This fruit may 

 be considered 

 the finest in 

 the world, 

 though it has 

 not been 

 known in Eu- 

 rope above two 

 8 ^ 2 - centuries, and 



has only been cultivated about a 

 century as a fruit-plant in Great 



Britain. The legume, or pea, 10 ; 

 the siliqua, or pod, 11, as in the 

 mustard, and which differs from 

 the legume 

 chiefly in 

 this, that 

 the cham- 

 ber con- 

 taining 

 the seeds 

 is divided; 

 the capsule, 12, as in the poppy, 

 larkspur, &c. ; and the bacca, or 

 common currant, gooseberry, &c. 



Besides these leading and distinctive forms of 

 fruit, there are numerous minor variations in 

 their external forms and internal structures, a 

 knowledge of which will increase the interest 

 of our rambles, wherever vegetation presents 

 itself to our view. 



