INTRODUCTION 
Gymnosperms (Greek yvpvos, gumnos , naked ; cnrep/xa, sperma , a seed) in 
contradistinction to all other Flowering Plants, which are Angiosperms 
(Greek avyziov, angeion , a case or receptacle). Gymnosperms have neither 
ovary, style, stigma, nor fruit, their pollen-grains falling directly upon, 
and then in germination penetrating, their naked ovules. These ovules 
are generally borne on the scales of a cone, whence one large group of 
Gymnosperms are known as Conifers. Fruits, like the ovaries from which 
they mainly originate, may he monocarpellary or polycarpellary, apocarpous 
or syncarpous, superior or inferior. In the course of ripening they generally 
enlarge and may either dry up like a withering autumn leaf, or become 
juicy and soft or succulent. These latter often change colour from green to 
yellow, red, or less commonly blue or black ; and their juice from being 
acid may become sweet by the development of sugar. Dry one-seeded 
fruits, such as those of Grasses, Composite, and many catkin-bearing trees, 
do not, as a rule, split open when ripe, being termed indehiscent. Dry fruits 
containing two or more seeds commonly either split into one-seeded portions 
( mericarps or nutlets'), i.e. are imperfectly dehiscent, and are known collectively 
as schizocarps (Greek or^t{w, schizo, I split; Kapnos, karpos, fruit), as in 
Cmbelliferce, Mallows, Cranes-bills, Spurges, Mints, etc. ; or are dehiscent, 
splitting so as to disclose their seeds, as in Peas, Violets, Primroses, and 
Poppies, etc. Succulent fruits do not, as a rule, split open when ripe. 
We may describe some twelve types of fruit commonly represented 
among British plants. Of these three are monocarpellary, the caryopsis, or 
grain, the pod, and the drupe. The caryopsis (Greek Kapvov, karuon , a nut ; 
ox}jl^, opsis, resemblance) is the dry, indehiscent, superior, one-seeded fruit, 
or “ grain,” of Grasses, including our cereals, in which the seed completely 
fills the fruit. It is often surmounted by the remains of the feathery stigmas 
by which the wind-borne pollen was received. The pod, or legume , the 
characteristic fruit of the Pea and Bean Family ( Leguminosce ), is dry but 
completely dehiscent and many-seeded, splitting both between the inrolled 
margins of the carpellary leaf and down its midrib. The two halves or 
valves often contract violently into a spiral, thus jerking the seeds to a 
considerable distance. The drupe, or stone fruit, characteristic of the Tribe 
xlii 
