Indehiscent when they do not open at maturity. Fleshy fruits and stone fruits are of course indehiscent. The seed becomes free only through decay or by being fed upon by animals. Those which escape digestion are thus disseminated by the latter. Of dry fruits many are indehiscent; and these are variously arranged to be transported by animals. Some burst irregularly; many are
Dehiscent, that is, they split open regularly along certain lines, and discharge the seeds. A dehiscent fruit almost always contains many or several seeds, or at least more than one seed.
Fig. 371. Leafy shoot and berry (cut across) of the larger Cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon.
Fig. 372, 373. Pepo of Gourd, in section. 373. One carpel of same in diagram.
Fig. 374. Longitudinal and transverse sections of a pear (pome).
351. The principal kinds of fruit which have received substantive names and are of common use in descriptive botany are the following. Of fleshy fruits the leading kind is
[352.] The Berry, such as the gooseberry and currant, the blueberry and cranberry (Fig. [371]), the tomato, and the grape. Here the whole flesh is soft throughout. The orange is a berry with a leathery rind.
[353.] The Pepo, or Gourd-fruit, is a hard-rinded berry, belonging to the Gourd family, such as the pumpkin, squash, cucumber, and melon, Fig. [372, 373].