Fig. 505.—Floral diagram of Mespilus germanica.
A. Sorbeæ. The endocarp is parchment-like or papery (drupe, with thin stone or berry).
1. Pyrus and Cydonia; carpels completely embedded in the cup-like receptacle, styles always free.—Pyrus: the fruit is glabrous, and has only a small calyx, withering or deciduous, and a 5-locular ovary with at most 2 ascending ovules in each loculus (Fig. [504] D). The large flowers are situated in few-flowered umbels or corymbs. P. communis (Pear; free styles, Fig. [507]; it has the well-known pear-shaped fruit; the core is reduced to several groups of sclerenchymatous cells embedded in the pulp, the leaf-stalk is as long as the blade).—Cydonia (Quince) has a hairy fruit with many seeds in 2 rows in each loculus of the endocarp (Figs. [504] C, F; [506]); the testa of these seeds is mucilaginous. C. vulgaris, large, terminal flowers on lateral branches, and large leaf-like, persistent sepals.
Fig. 506.—Cydonia vulgaris. Longitudinal section of fruit.
Fig. 507.—Longitudinal section of Pear flower.
2. Malus and Amelanchier (Aronia); carpels free on the ventral edge; styles united. Malus communis (Apple) the fruit is “umbilicate” at the base; no sclerenchymatous cells in the pulp; styles united at the base (Fig. [504] D); leaf-stalk shorter than the blade. Sorbus (Mountain-ash) differs only in having a 2–3-locular fruit with extremely thin endocarp. Cymose inflorescences in umbellate cymes. S. aucuparia has pinnate leaves, S. aria (White-beam) and other species have simple leaves.—Amelanchier (the Service-tree) has a false divisional wall springing from the dorsal suture, and more or less projecting into each of the loculi of the ovary; Raphiolepis (Fig. [504] E) has racemes and a juicy berry; Eriobotrya japonica (Loquat).
B. Cratægeæ. The endocarp is hard and bony (“drupes,” generally with several, sometimes, however, with only 1–2 stones, rarely one multilocular stone; only 1 seed in each of the loculi).—Cratægus (Hawthorn, May). There are 1–5 stones in the spherical or ovoid fruit. The disc, found on the apex of the fruit, inside the small, withered calyx, is small (much less than the transverse section of the fruit). Shrubs with thorns (branches) and moderately large flowers borne in corymbs.—Mespilus (Medlar) differs from the last-named only in having a large disc at the apex of the fruit, inside the large, leaf-like sepals, i.e. almost equal to the greatest diameter of the fruit. The flowers are solitary and terminal.—Cotoneaster is chiefly distinguished from the others by its syncarps, the 2–5 carpels (and stones) being free from one another, and only united to the receptacle by a larger or smaller portion of their dorsal surface (Figs. [504] A, B). Small shrubs with leathery leaves, generally covered with white, felted hairs on the lower surface, and with small flowers; the fruit is red or black.