50 DEHISCENCE, OR OPENING 
Usually all the other parts of the flower, as the calyx, 
petals, and stamens, together with the style, wither 
and fall off. Occasionally only some of these organs 
are removed, while those which remain are often sub- 
jected to change. The ovary itself frequently undergoes 
considerable changes; generally it enlarges, together 
with the ovules, which now begin to advance to the 
condition of seeds, while the ovary becomes the seed 
vessel, or Fruit. The term Fruit in Botany, has, like 
the word flower, a different meaning to that commonly 
applied to these two objects: the fruit in Botany 
implies an ovary arrived at maturity, and furnished 
with seeds. Thus, the term fruit, is applied to an 
Apple, which is eatable, and to the spiny cases of the 
Horse Chesnut, or Spanish Chesnut, neither of which 
are.eaten, while the seeds of the latter are eatable 
when roasted; or it is applied to the Walnut, which 
in its green state is fit for pickling, but the part eaten 
when fully ripe is the seed; the shell or rind in this 
instance, being the seed-case, or fruit. 
75. Besides the enlargement which the ovary under- 
goes, internal changes sometimes take place to such an 
extent, that it is scarcely possible to recognize the 
structure of the ovary in the fruit of the same plant. 
For instance, the ovary of the Pea, differs from the 
pod when fully ripe only in an increase of size, and the 
ovules likewise. So also with regard to the ovary of 
the Orange, and its ripe fruit. But the ovary of the 
Horse Chesnut and the fruit differ considerably, both 
externally as well as internally. This ovary will be 
found to contain three small cavities, and in each cavity 
