Fig. 404. Pyxis of Purslane, the lid detaching.
[376.] The Pyxis is a pod which opens by a circular horizontal line, the upper part forming a lid, as in Purslane (Fig. [404]), the Plantain, Henbane, etc. In these the dehiscence extends all round, or is circumscissile. So it does in Amaranth (Fig. [387]), forming a one-seeded utricular pyxis. In Jeffersonia, the line does not separate quite round, but leaves a portion for a hinge to the lid.
377. Of Multiple or Collective Fruits, which are properly masses of fruits aggregated into one body (as is seen in the Mulberry (Fig. [408]), Pine-apple, etc.), there are two kinds with special names and of peculiar structure.
Fig. 405. A fig-fruit when young. 406. Same in section. 407. Magnified portion, a slice, showing some of the flowers.
Fig. 408. A mulberry. 409. One of the grains younger, enlarged; seen to be a pistillate flower with calyx becoming fleshy. 410. Same, with fleshy calyx cut across.
[378.] The Syconium or Fig-fruit (Fig. [405, 406]) is a fleshy axis or summit of stem, hollowed out, and lined within by a multitude of minute flowers, the whole becoming pulpy, and in the common fig, luscious.
[379.] The Strobile or Cone (Fig. [411]), is the peculiar multiple fruit of Pines, Cypresses, and the like; hence named Coniferæ, viz. cone-bearing plants. As already shown ([313]), these cones are open pistils, mostly in the form of flat scales, regularly overlying each other, and pressed together in a spike or head. Each scale bears one or two naked seeds on its inner face. When ripe and dry, the scales turn back or diverge, and in the Pine the seed peels off and falls, generally carrying with it a wing, a part of the lining of the scale, which facilitates the dispersion of the seeds by the wind (Fig. [412, 413]). In Arbor-Vitæ, the scales of the small cone are few, and not very unlike the leaves. In Cypress they are very thick at the top and narrow at the base, so as to make a peculiar sort of closed cone. In Juniper and Red Cedar, the few scales of the very small cone become fleshy, and ripen into a fruit which closely resembles a berry.