The Vegetable World: Being a History of Plants, with Their Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties

third, a woody kernel, either smooth or furrowed with deep-winding dents, constituting the solid abode and protector of the seed; this is the endocarp. Fig. 242, showing the fruit of the Cherry, and Fig. 243, giving a vertical section of the same fruit, enable us to see the interior and ex-of this drupe. terior arrangements proceeding from The fruit of the Medlar the ripening of an inferior ovary, is com-and joined compartments, posed of five together by an external covering con- ™ sidered as an expansion of the floral re- 4 ceptacle. This fruit is also crowned with f/ the sepals of the calyx. The Medlar pre- . sents five bony kernels, embedded in @

Fig.es cei pulpy mass, resulting from the transformation and fusion of all the ovarian walls except the woody endocarp, added to the expansion of the floral receptacle. The small oblong and red fruit of the Cornel is also a of an inferior drupe resulting from the ripening cit and compound ovary. But the kernels are joined

Ye" ] together in such a way that we find in the centre, one only, presenting two or three cells containing the seed. It results from what we have said, that in the ~ Peach, Cherry, and Plum, the eatable part pro- / ceeds exclusivelly from the ripening of the pericarp he 2i—Section or oF the ovary walls, whilst in the Medlar or the ey fruit of the Cornel, the eatable part results not only from the ripening of the pericarp, but also from the transformation of the peduncle of the flower, which increases and becomes succulent. but without indehiscent, Berries, like drupes, are fleshy and kernels. Such are the berries of the Vine or the Currant (Fig- Gooseberry, only we must remark with regard t0 244), and the this latter fruit, that its eatable and pulpous part does not belong only to the pericarp, but also to the seeds, which afford a gelatinous

testa, sufficiently developed. The seeds of the Pomegranate also present a testa full of pulp.

There are other berries, the structure of which is so peculiar, that they have received special names. We will y content ourselves with mentioning here the fruits of the Apple and Orange. The Apple results from the ripening of an inferior and compound ovary with five cells. It is wrapped, like the fruit of the Medlar and Cornel, by an expansion of the floral receptacle, This covering becomes fleshy and succulent, like the ovary with which it is joined, of which the endocarp alone, lining the hollow of the five cells, is thin and cartilaginous. The endocarp forms that sort of scale which often sticks between the teeth when we eat an apple.

The fruit of the Orange (Fig. 245) results from the ripening of a superior and compound ovary? Fig. 214.—Bnnchof with several cells. The external skin, yellow — coloured, dimpled, and strewn over with glands secreting an odoriferous liquid, is the epicarp. The white, spongy, and dry layer immediately un- ee der the external skin a tale is the mesocarp. The thin membrane lining the quarters is the endocarp. These quarters form the same number of compartments towards their inner angle, containing seeds, and are filled with a novel and peculiar tissue,

Fig. 245.—Section of an Orange. - Which is developed on the opposite wall of each compartment. It appears at first like slender hairs, which increase by degrees, filling up the entire. cavity, which is also filled with juice, constituting ultimately a succulent parenchyma, which forms the delicious pulp of the Orange.

Thus, in this much-admired fruit, the eatable part does not belong to the mesocarp, as in the Cherry or Grape; we can only say that it belongs to the pericarp as an accessory, since we reject the three principal parts constituting this integument. The eatable part is an additional tissue, so to speak, which does not exist in other fruits. We see, by this example, how various is the structure of fruits, and what difficulties their study presents even on a limited scale. Here we must confine ourselves to a rapid sketch of some of the common fruits, whose diverse and peculiar appearance require @ few words of explanation. What constitutes the Strawberry? Is it that fleshy, succulent part essentially forming it, which is the fruit? Certainly not: the true fruits of the Strawberry (Fig. 246)—and they are very

Fig. 216.—Strawberry. Fig. 247.—Raspberry. Fig. 248. Mulberry-numerous—are those little, brownish, dry, insipid grains, crunching between the teeth, which remain at the bottom of the vessel, mixed with small dark threads, when you beat up strawberries with wine. The little brownish grains are achenia, the sm dark threads are the styles of the withered flower. What we eat, then, in the Strawberry, is the receptacle, which is gradually filled with juices; it increases in size, pushes out the little acheenia, it then assumes a rich coloursetting them into its parenchyme; as well as a most pleasant odour, and a sweet, aromatic, and slightly-acid flavour. In the Raspberry, on the contrary (Fig. 247), the receptacle is dry and bears several fruits, which, far from being achzenia, as in

the Strawberry, are, on the contrary, little drupes. The seat of the fleshy and eatable part here occupies an entirely different position. In the Fig (Fig. 249) the eatable part is formed, as in the Strawberry, by a thick, fleshy, and succulent receptacle, of gourd-like shape. The real fruits, which the reader will have no doubt taken for the mere seeds, are achewnia, and are inserted in the inside surface of the receptacle. But there is this difference between the

Fig. 249.—Section of Fig. Fig. 250.—Pine-Cone.

Fig and the Strawberry, that all the fruits of the Strawberry appertain to one flower, while the fruits of the same Fig belong to different flowers. The Mulberry (Fig. 248) is not a fleshy fruit, properly so called; it is an achenium, enclosed in a persistent calix, which has become fleshy. | The name of cone has been given to the fruit peculiar to a natural group of plants, the Pines, for this reason designated Conifere. The cone is a dry fruit, composed of a great number of achenia,or samare, hidden in the axils of hard and highly-developed bracts. Fig. 250 represents the Pine-cone.

Tue SEED.

The Seed is the essential part of the fruit. It represents outwardly a system of protecting coverings, which are generally double. The various appearances presented by different seeds are owing to this covering. Seeds are sometimes smooth, like those of Tobacco (Fig. 250) or

PipRLcSuined Tig BH.Seed igh Feud ig 254—seedo Hi aSal the Pear (Fig. 252), sometimes wrinkled and rough-skinned, as in the Fennel (Fig. 253); or papillous or warty, as in the Chickweed (Stellaria), Fig. 254; honey-combed with alveolar depressions, 28 in the Field Poppy (Fig. 255); winged, asin the Pine (Fig. 256), or

Fig. 257.—Section of Seed of Cotton Tree.

Fig. 256.—Seed of the Pine.

Fig. 258.—Seed of Cotton Tree.

hairy, as in the Cotton Plant (Figs. 257 and 258), with hairs rising from the apex, as in Asclepias, from the base in the Willow.

The whole of the seed enveloped and protected by these integuments, is called the kernel, or nucleus.

The essential character of the Kernel is, that it contains the

embryo, that is, the germ of a new individual, a rudimentary plant in miniature, which will soon present all the characteristics of the parent plant, whose species it is to perpetuate. The embryo is composed of cells and spiral vessels; a small stem, or stalklet; a rudimentary descending portion, which becomes the root or radicle; and a rudimentary ascending axis, surmounted by a bud, or gemmule. Between the radicle and the gemmule, the first leaves developed are termed cotyledons: a plant having leaves like seed-lobes. Fig. 259 shows these different parts in an embryo of the Almond-tree. When the plant has only one germinating leaf, or cotyledon, as the Ricinus (Castor Oil-plant), (Fig. 260), Wheat-plant, Tulip, Palm, and Pond-weed (Fig. 261), we say that the embryo and the plant are monocotyledonous; when there are two, as in the Rose, Almond-tree (Fig. 262), and the Bean, we say that: they are dicotyledonous.: The cotyledons of the Ricinus (Fig. 260) are very thin, and offer, on their surface, very distinct traces of veins; they resemble small leaves, while those of the Almond-tree and the Bean are thick and fleshy, and present nothing like a leaf at first sight. They have undergone deep and essential modifications, appropriate

Nesom MEER TELE ne pape to the functions they are called on to perform in the act of germination. Tn a great number of cases the kernel is exclusively formed by the embryo, that is, the entire seed is made up of the embryo, and integumentary covering only. But there is often developed, either around, or by the side of the embryo, an accessory and completely independent body, which is a sort of reservoir of nutritious

matter, from which the embryo draws the substances necessary for its first growth. This body is the albumen. When this is wanting, the cotyledons perform the functions of the nurse, nourishing the : young plant, and it is to this end that they undergo the modification of which we have just spoken. Thus, in the seed of the Bean, which has no albumen, the cotyledons are much developed and full of a nutritive substance, of which the embryo takes a considerable portion. In the seed of Ricinus, which encloses a considerable portion of albumen, the cotyledons preserve the characteristics peculiar to the organs they represent;they are thin and foliaceous. The albumen varies very much in its bulk, nature, and position, in " Fig. 263.—Cary. Tegard to the embryo, consisting of amylaceous, lig- TT heoak,, and saccharine matters; with oils, resins, salts, and other heterogeneous substances. It is very considerable in Wheat (Fig. 263) and in Ivy (Fig. 264); it is reduced to a thin layer in Ketmia Adansey, the Hibiscus of modern botanists. In wheat, the embryo is placed laterally at the base of