Fig. 246
We see that the pistils of this fruit do not remain small and dry, as with the strawberry. No, indeed! their little seedboxes grow bigger and juicier every day, and they turn from green to red and from red to black. They do not remain hard to the touch, but become so soft that a slight pressure will bruise them and stain your fingers purple. And we enjoy eating the full-grown blackberry (Fig. [249]) because a quantity of these juicy seedboxes are so packed upon the juicy flower cushion that together they make a delicious mouthful (Figs. [247], [248]).
| Fig. 247 | Fig. 248 | Fig. 249 |
The flower cushion of the blackberry is long and narrow, not broad and flat like that of the strawberry.
So do not forget that in the strawberry we enjoy eating the ripened flower cushion, while in the blackberry the juicy seedboxes give to the fruit more of its size and flavor than does the flower cushion.
ANOTHER COUSIN
Fig. 250