ls are generally more or less altered. Where,
however, the ovary is, as it is called, inferior, it may happen that the
pistils of different flowers may coalesce more or less without much
alteration in the other parts of the flower, as happens normally in many
_Caprifoliaceae_, _Rubiaceae_, &c. &c. In some of these cases it must be
remembered that the real structure of the apparent fruit is not made out
beyond dispute, the main points of controversy being as to what, if any,
share the dilated fruit-stalk or axis takes in the formation of such
organs. Again, it will be borne in mind that in some cases the so-called
fruit is made up of a number of flowers all fused together, as in the
Mulberry or the Pineapple, in which plants what is, in ordinary
language, called the fruit really consists of the whole mass of flowers
constituting the inflorescence fused together. Union of the fruits may
also in some cases take place between the carpels after the fall of the
other floral whorls, particularly when the outer layers of the pericarp
assume a succulent condition, so that under the general head of syncarpy
really different conditions are almost necessarily grouped together,
and, in seeking to investigate the causes of the phenomenon, the
particular circumstances of each individual case must be taken into
account. Syncarpy takes place in various degrees; sometimes only the
stalks are joined; at other times the whole extent of the fruit, as in
cherries, &c. This peculiarity did not escape the observant mind of
Shakespeare--

"A double cherry seeming parted.
But yet a union in partition,
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem."
'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 Nefle de Cor