CHAPTER XXIII 
HOW FRUITS ARE FORMED 
The fruit contrasted with the seed. The fruit comes 
after the flower. As the fruit ripens, the seed matures. 
Is the fruit the same as the seed? In Fig. 25 is shown 
a fruit of the sunflower. It is usually called a seed. It 
is formed from a single flower in the head. Since there 
are many flowers in a sunflower head, there are also 
many fruits. The entire fruit, however, is not, strictly 
speaking, the seed. The seed is inside. The wall of the 
seed is so firmly joined to the wall of the pistil that it 
does not separate from it, and the meat (embryo plant) 
is inside. So we cannot say with accuracy that the 
fruit and seed are the same. 
. Notr.— The matter of this chapter is not particularly concerned 
with the behaviour of plants. But the fruit is best studied after the 
flower, if we wish to get any idea of the parts entering into the fruit. 
Its study is also closely connected with the dispersal of seed. For this 
reason the chapter on fruits is introduced here. If the teacher prefers, 
the matter of the flower, fruit, and of seed dispersal may quite as well 
be introduced after Chapter X, in connection with a study of the plant 
and its parts. 
1In the gingko tree, and in cycas, the fruit is the same as the seed, 
though sometimes the embryo is not formed in the fruit. The word 
“fruit”? has a very indefinite significance, as can be seen from its 
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