130 
OSAGE ORANGE, OR YELLOW WOOD. 
fleshy summits of the segments of the calyx. The whole 
of the calyces, at a short distance below the immediate 
surface, become partly engrafted together into one 
mass, and a transverse section of the fruit, therefore, 
presents a series of radiating and woody fibres, amongst 
which are immersed the one-seeded germs. The seeds 
are obovate, compressed, and nearly as large as those 
of the Orange. The testa is yellowish-white and car- 
tilaginous; there is no albumen, and the seed is of a 
yellowish-brown, pendulous, with the radicle inverted 
from the axis of the fruit, and curved partly over the 
margin of the thick and fleshy cotyledones towards the 
point occupied by the hylum. The fruit, when ripe, is 
succulent, has a sw'eetish but insipid taste, and is some- 
what acrid. As far as we know, it is not eaten by any 
animal. 
It is readily propagated by sowing the seeds, and also 
by cuttings of the root, which grow much more readily 
than cuttings c*f the branches. Although several male 
plants were raised in this vicinity, it is singular to re- 
mark, that while the fertile plant is in its utmost vigour, 
very few of the former survive; and as their presence is 
necessary for fertility, it probably would be the best 
way to ingraft the male on some one of the branches of 
the bearing plant. 
Plate XXXVII. 
A branch of the male plant of the natural size a. The male 
flower a little enlarged, b. The female capitulum. 
Plate XXXVIII. 
The fruit of the natural size, a . A transverse section of the 
same. b. The appearance of the abortive germs in the section. 
c, The seed with the testa, d. The same divested of the testa, 
e. The embryo, f The back view of the same. 
