BRAMBLE TYPE, 45: 
(f.) The Plum (Prunus communis) and Cherry (Prunus Cerasus) @X- 
hibit a further difference in the ovary. Hach flower has an ovary of one 
carpel containing 2 pendulous ovules, of which only one, as arule, ripens. 
In ripening, the pericarp undergoes considerable change. The inner 
layer (endocarp*) becomes very hard and bony, forming the stone or 
putament of the fruit; the middle layer (mesocarp{) becomes succu- 
lent, and is the edible portion; while the whole is covered by an outer 
skin (epicarp$). This form of fruit, in which a hard inner layer of the 
pericarp is covered by a succulent pulp, is called a drupe. The object of 
this development is most probably to render the fruit attractive to birds, 
which in eating them must sometimes swallow the stones; and these, 
resisting the digestive action of the 
stomach, pass uninjured through the 
alimentary canal. In this way wide 
distribution of the seeds is effected. 
In the case of the larger drupes it is 
sometimes the case that birds carry 
the fruit away to a quiet spot, often 
at a. considerable distance, where 
they pick off all the edible portion 
and reject the stone, which is thus 
left at a greater or less distance from 
the parent tree. (Compare also Peach, 
which is here figured, Nectarine, Ap- 
ricot, Cherry Laurel, or Almond, in 
the latter of which the pericarp is 
dry and fibrous.) Fig. 62, Fruit of Peach. 
10. Manvxa, on TEA-TREE (Leptospermum scoparium). 
Note the rigid erect habit of this common shrub; and the: 
pale-greyish or light-brown bark, which is readily shed off old 
specimens in long strips. The small alternate exstipulate leayes. 
stand nearly horizontally from the stem; their hard entire 
margin runs into a hard, almost spiny tip (such an apex is said 
to be mucronate||). Examine them between the eye and the 
light by means of a lens, and you will see that they are marked 
all over with small pellucid dots, which are the so-called oil- 
glands. 
The flowers are solitary and sessile at the ends of short 
branches. You will find that they are sometimes ¥ , but even 
more frequently polygamous, the former being often associated 
with g flowers. Note the hemispherical calyx-tube, with its 5. 
rounded deciduous superior lobes; the 5 orbicular imbricate 
petals placed on the edge of the calyx-tube; the co free 
stamens fastened just within the petals, and curved inwards in 
the buds; and the single style crowned with a small capitate 
or button-like stigma. In transverse section the ovary is seen 
* Gr. endos, within ; karpos, a fruit. 
t Lat. putamen, a shell or pod. 
I Gr. mesos, middle ; karpos, a fruit. 
§ Gr. ept, upon; karpos, a fruit. 
|| Lat. macro, a sharp point. 
