346. Also a cluster of distinct carpels may, in ripening, be consolidated or compacted, so as practically to be taken for one fruit. Such are raspberries, blackberries, the Magnolia fruit, etc. Moreover, the ripened product of many flowers may be compacted or grown together so as to form a single compound fruit.
[347.] Its kinds have therefore to be distinguished. Also various names of common use in descriptive botany have to be mentioned and defined.
348. In respect to composition, accordingly, fruits may be classified into
Simple, those which result from the ripening of a single pistil, and consist only of the matured ovary, either by itself, as in a cherry, or with calyx-tube completely incorporated with it, as in a gooseberry or cranberry.
Aggregate, when a cluster of carpels of the same flower are crowded into a mass; as in raspberries and blackberries.
Fig. 366. Forming fruit (capsule) of Gaultheria, with calyx thickening around its base. 367. Section of same mature, the berry-like calyx nearly enclosing the capsule.
