ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 
XXI 
a skin or epicarp), and an inner dry endocarp called the Put amen, which is either 
cartilaginous (of the consistence of parchment) or hard and woody. In the latter 
case it is commonly a stone , and the drupe a stone-fruit. When the putamen consists 
of several distinct stones or nuts, each enclosing a seed, they are called pyrenes , or 
sometimes kernels.. 
158. The principal kinds of dry fruits are 
the Capsule ox Pod,* which is dehiscent. When ripe the pericarp usually splits 
longitudinally into as many or twice as many pieces, called valves , as it contain cells 
or placentas. If these valves separate at the line of junction of the carpels, that is, 
along the line of the placentas or dissepiments, either splitting them or leaving them 
attached to the axis, the dehiscence is termed septicidal ; if the valves separate be- 
tween the placentas or dissepiment, the dehiscence is loculicidal , and the valves 
either hear the placentas or dissepiments along their middle line, or leave them at- 
tached to the axis. Sometimes also the capsule discharges its seeds by slits, chinks , 
or pores , more or less regularly arranged, or bursts irregularly, or separates into two 
parts by a horizontal line ; in the latter case it is said to be circumsciss. 
the Nut or Achene, which is indehiscent and contains but a single seed. When 
the pericarp is thin in proportion to the seed it encloses, the whole fruit (or each of 
its lobes) has the appearance of a single seed, and is so called in popular language. 
If the pericarp is thin and rather loose, it is often called a Utricle. A Samara is 
a nut with a wing at its upper end. 
159. Where the carpels of the ovary are distinct (125) they may severally become 
as many distinct berries, drupes, capsules, or achenes. Separate carpels are usually 
more or less compressed, laterally, with more or less prominent inner and outer 
edges, called sutures , and, if dehiscent, the carpel usually opens at these sutures. 
A Follicle is a carpel opening at the inner suture only. In some cases where the 
carpels are united in the ovary they will separate when ripe ; they are then called 
Cocci if one-seeded. 
160. The peculiar fruits of some of the large Orders have received special names, 
which will be explained under each Order. Such are the siliqua and silicule of 
Cruciferse, the legume of Leguminosse, the pome of Pyrus and its allies, the pepo of 
Cucurbitacese, the cone of Coniferse, the grain or caryopsis of Graminese, etc. 
§ 14. The Seed. 
161. The Seed is enclosed in the pericarp in the great majority of flowering plants, 
called therefore Angiosperms , or angiospermous plants. In Conifer ce and a very few 
allied genera, called Gymnosperms, or gymnospermous plants , the seed is naked, with- 
out any real pericarp. These truly gymnospermous plants must not be confounded 
with Labiatce , Boraginece , etc., which have also been falsely called gymnospermous, 
their small nuts having the appearance of seeds (158). 
162. The. seed when ripe contains an embryo or young plant, either filling or 
nearly filling the cavity, but not attached to the outer skin or the seed, or more or 
less immersed in a mealy, oily, fleshy, or horn-like substance, called the albumen , 
or perisperm. The presence or absence of this albumen, that is, the distinction be- 
tween albuminous and exalbuminous seeds, is one of great importance. The embryo 
or albumen can often only be found or distinguished when the seed is quite ripe, or 
sometimes only when it begins to germinate. 
163. The shell of the seed consists usually of two separable coat*. The outer 
coat, called the testa , is usually the principal one, and in most cases the only one 
attended to in descriptions. It may be hard and crustaceous , woody or bony, or thin 
and membranous (skm-like), dry, or rarely succulent. It is sometimes expanded 
into wings , or bears a tuft of hair, cotton, or wool, called a coma. The inner coat 
is called the tegmen. 
164. The funicle is the stalk by which the seed is attached to the placenta. It is 
occasionally enlarged into a membranous, pulpy or fleshy appendage, sometimes 
spreading over a considerable part of the seed, or nearly enclosing it, called an aril. 
* In English descriptions, pod is more frequently used when it is long and narrow; capsule or 
sometimes pouch, when it is short and thick or broad. 
