INTRODUCTION 
burst off as “ valves,” leaving the seeds attached for a time round the 
frame-work of a transparent partition. This fruit may be long or short, 
and this partition may be in the direction of its longer or of its shorter 
diameter; or in other words, the fruit may be compressed parallel to or at 
right angles to the partition. Capsules are dry, many-seeded fruits which 
dehisce in various ways and occur in many different Families. In Poppies, 
Snapdragons, and Toad-flaxes the capsules open by pores or little holes near 
the top. In Primroses and Pinks they split open partially at the top into 
a circlet of teeth ; and in both these cases only a few seeds will be shaken 
out of the fruit at a time. In Pimpernels and in the Henbane the capsules 
split all round transversely , so that a little hemispherical lid falls off ; whilst 
in Violets, Orchids, and the majority of instances they split longitudinally 
into valves. 
The chief syncarpous succulent fruits are known as berries and pomes. 
The term berry is commonly applied alike to superior fruits like those 
of the Nightshades and to inferior ones, which will be surmounted by the 
withered calyx, as in the Gooseberry. Berries are soft throughout and 
many-seeded ; whilst the pome, characteristic of the Tribe Pomea of the 
Family Rosacea, is an inferior fruit with a core. This core, which may be 
parchment-like, as in the Apple, or stony, as in Hawthorn, is, in fact, the 
ovary, most of the surrounding flesh being the adherent receptacular tube 
which carries the withered calyx to the top. Berries and the smaller 
pomes, such as those of the Hawthorn or Mountain Ash, are commonly 
swallowed or eaten piecemeal by fruit-eating birds, which, unlike those 
which habitually feed upon seeds, have not got muscular gizzards. Thus 
the seeds of these fruits are neither crushed nor, in many cases, digested 
by the bird. 
In indehiscent fruits, such as the Hazel-nut or the Almond, the seed has 
very often a rough brown outer coat or testa, whereas in dehiscent fruits, 
such as the pods of Peas and Beans, the seeds are often 
conspicuously coloured and highly polished. The testa is 
generally thick, leathery, impermeable, and bitter, and has often the property 
of resisting for a considerable time the penetration of water or the action 
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