'Midsummer Night's Dream,' act iii, sc. 2.
A similar union has been observed in peaches, gooseberries, gourds, melons, and a great many other fruits. In the Barbarossa grape I have frequently seen a fusion of two, three, four or more berries quite at the end of the bunch, so that the clusters were terminated by a compound grape. Seringe has remarked sometimes two, sometimes three, fruits of Ranunculus tripartitus soldered together. He has also seen three melons similarly joined.[47] Turpin mentions having seen a complete union between the three smooth and leathery pericarps which are naturally separate and enclosed within the spiny cupule of the chestnut.[48] Poiteau and Turpin have figured and described in their treatise on fruit trees, under the name of Néfle de Correa, four or five medlars, joined together and surmounted by all the persistent leaflets of the calyces.[49]
A very remarkable example of Syncarpy has been recorded by E. Kœnig in which nine strawberries were borne on one stem (Fragaria botryformis),[50] and a similar malformation has been observed in the Pineapple.
When two fruits are united together they may be of about equal size, while in other cases one of the two is much smaller than the other. This was the case in two cucumbers given to me by Mr. James Salter. These were united together along their whole length excepting at the very tips; the upper one of the two was much larger than the lower, and contained three cells, the lower fruit was one-celled by suppression. Both fruits were curved, the curvature being evidently due to the more rapid growth of the upper as compared with the lower one.
Fig. 19.—Adhesion of two apples.
Fig. 20.—Section of united apples.