CHAP. II. 
FRUIT. 
187 
number of ovules : by degrees the dissepiments are ruptured 
and obliterated by the rapid growth of the shell of the 
ovary ; and it finally becomes a fruit with only one cell, and 
a large fungous placenta in the middle. In Cathartocarpus 
fistula a one-celled ovary changes into a fruit having each 
of its many seeds lodged in a separate cell, in consequence of 
the formation of numerous horizontal membranes which in- 
tercept the seeds. A still more extraordinary confusion of 
parts takes place in the fruit of the pomegranate after the 
ovary is fertilised; and many other cases might be men- 
tioned. 
Every fruit consists of two principal parts, the pericarp 
and the seed^ the latter being contained within the former. 
When the ovary is inferior, or coheres with the calyx, the 
latter and the pericarp are usually so completely united 
as to be inseparable and undistinguishable : in such cases it 
is usual to speak of the pericarp without reference to the 
calyx, as if no such union had taken place. Botanists call a 
fruit, the pericarp of which adheres to the calyx, an infe- 
rior fruit [fructus inferus) ; and that which does not adhere to 
the calyx, a superior fruit {fructus superus). But Desvaux 
has coined other words to express these ideas : a superior 
fruit he calls autocarpien ; an inferior fruit, heterocarpien ; terms 
wholly unnecessary and unworthy of adoption. 
Every thing which in a ripe fruit is on the outside of the 
real integuments of the seeds belongs to the pericarp. It 
consists of three different parts, the epicarp, the sarcocarp, and 
the endocarp ; terms contrived by Richard, and useful in 
practice. 
The epicarp is the external integument or skin ; the endo- 
carp, called putamen by Gsertner, the inner coat or shell; 
and the sarcocarp, the intermediate flesh. Thus, in the peach, 
the separable skin is the epicarp, the pulpy flesh the sarco- 
carp, and the stone the endocarp or putamen. In the apple 
and pear the epicarp is formed by the cuticle of the calyx, 
and the sarcocarp is confluent with the remainder of the 
calyx in one fleshy body. 
The pericarp is extremely diversified in size and texture, 
varying from the dimension of a single line in length to the 
