224 
ORGANOGRAPHY. 
BOOK I. 
the seed, the latter being contained within the former. Wien 
the ovary is inferior, or coheres with the calyx, the latter and 
the pericarp are usually so completely united as to be inse- 
parable 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 peri- 
carp of which adheres to the calyx, an inferior 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 unneces- 
sary and unworthy of adoption. 
Every thing which in a ripe fruit is on the outside of the 
real integuments of the seed, except the aril, 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 Gaertner, 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 
magnitude of two feet in diameter ; and from the texture of a 
delicate membrane to the coarse fabric of wood itself, through 
various cartilaginous, coriaceous, bony, spongy, succulent, or 
fibrous gradations. 
The base of the pericarp is the part where it unites with 
the peduncle ; its apex is where the style was : hence the 
organic and apparent apices of the fruit are often very dif- 
ferent, especially in such as have the style growing from 
their sides, as in Rosaceas and Chrysobalanaceae, Labiatae and 
Boraginaceae. 
When a fruit has arrived at maturity, its pericarp either 
continues perfectly closed, when it is indehiscent, as in the 
