EOE ERS RT CMR RT eet ven aT MRE CRM ee Se CS EOD te ey nme me Ne Ce 
ch. XV] . THE SEEM. 1 
promiscuously through the pulpy substance, but are more gene- 
rally placed upon receptacles within the pulp. A compound 
berry consists of several single berries, each containing a seed 
united together; as in the blackberry and raspberry. Each o 
the separate parts is called an acinus, or giain. The orange 
and lemon are berries with a thick coat. 
371. There are some kinds of berries, usually so called, that 
seem scarcely entitled to the name; in these the pulp is not 
properly a part of the fruit, but originates from scme other or- 
gan; thus in the mulberry and strawberry the calyx becomes 
coloured and very juicy, surrounded by seeds like a real berry. 
Some botanists in describing the strawberry, say that what is 
commonly called the berry, is but a pulpy receptacle, studded 
with naked seeds. In the fig, the whole truit is a juicy calyx, 
or common receptacle, containing in its cavity innumerable flo- 
rets, each of which has a proper calyx of its own, which be 
comes pulpy, and invests the seed, as in the mulberry. 
372. 9th. Stropitum, a cone; is a Catkin or Ament hardened 
and enlarged into a seed vessel, as in the pine; this is called 
an aggregate, or compound pericarp. In the most perfect ex- 
amples of this kind of fruit the seeds are closely enveloped by 
the scales as by a capsule. The Strobilum is oblong in the 
pine, round in the cypress, very small in the alder and birch. 
When you eat fruit, as almonds, walnuts, apples, peaches, 
currants, &¢., you will no doubt be pleased to be able to give 
them their proper place in the classes you have just been con- 
sidering. 
CHAPTER XV. 
The Seed. 
We have now traced the plant from the rvot through all its 
various organs, until we have arrived at that part, which is a 
link in the chain of vegetable existence between the old and 
new plant; if this were destroyed, if the seeds of plants were 
no longer perfected, what changes would the whole face of na- 
ture present ! 
373. The earth would in one year be stripped of the whole 
A Me What is said of the blackberry, strawberry, mulberry, and 
"372. Describe the strobilum. 
373. What appearances would nature present if seeds were no longer 
perfected ? 
Pa 
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