Fig. 806.—Berry (currant).
a. Fruits which are the Produce of a Solitary Carpel.
1. The gymnospermous fruit, where the seed lies naked in the axils of the ligneous bracts, as in the cone of the fir and spruce tribe.
2. The legume or pod, which is formed of a solitary carpel bearing seeds on the ventral suture. It characterises the pea and bean tribe (leguminosæ).
3. The follicle is a mature carpel containing several seeds, and opening by the ventral suture. There are usually several follicles aggregated together; examples, larkspur, monkshood, evergreen.
b. Fruits which are the Produce of Several Carpels United.
4. The capsule consists of two or more carpels, either simply laterally united (one-celled or unilocular capsule), or folded inwards towards the axis, but without reaching it (spuriously multilocular capsule), or uniting with the axis (bilocular, trilocular, multilocular capsule). Examples of capsular fruit—mignonette, balsam, violet, poppy, etc.
Fig. 807.—Capsule (poppy).
