CLASSIFICATION OF FRUITS. 
113 
Fig. 45. 
h. Sorose (from soros a collec- 
tion); this genus contains many 
fruits united in a spike, and cov- 
ered with floral envelopes in a 
manner representing a berry, as 
the mulberry. Figure 45. a, re- 
presents the fruit of the morus 
rubra (red mulberry) which is 
an example of the genus sores ; 
it is of an oblong from, and each 
little drupe is surrounded by a 
succulent pericarp ; the nut is 
one seeded, ; b represents a de- 
tached perianth containing a 
drupeole (little drupe); c dru- 
peole ; d, a nut ; e, the same, 
cut transversely; f ] the embryo. 
We shall now give a division of fruits which although less 
strictly scientific than that of Mirbel, may be more easily under- 
stood. Linnaeus divided pericarps or fruits into the nine follow- 
ing classes ; Capsule, Silique, Legume , Follicle, Drupe, Nut, 
Pome, Berry and Strobilum. (See plate VIII.) 
1st. Capsule, signifies little chest or casket; this is a hollow 
pericarp, which spontaneously opens by pores, as the poppy, 
or by scales, as in the mullein. The capsules in opening 
divide externally into one or more pieces called valves ; 
the internal divisions of the capsule are called' cells ; these 
are the chambers appropriated for the reception of the seeds ; 
according to the number of these cells, the capsule is one 
celled, txco celled, &c. The membranes by which the cap- 
sule is divided into cells are called dissepiments , or parti- 
tions; these partitions are either parallel to the valves or 
contrary. The columella is the central pillar in a capsule ; 
and is the part which connects the several internal parti- 
tions with the seed. It takes its rise from the receptacle 
and has the seed fixed to it all around. 
2d. Silique or Siliqua, is a two valved pericarp or pod, with 
the seeds attached alternately to its opposite edge, as mus- 
tard and radish. The proper silique is two celled, being 
furnished with a partition which runs the whole length of 
this kind of pericarp ; there are some exceptions to this, as 
in the celandine. Silicle ( silicula , a little pod,) is distin- 
guished by being shorter than the proper silique ; it is al- 
Sorose — Linnaius’s division of pericarps — Capsule — Silique. 
10 * 
