le bodies (_spores_) which answer for seeds in Cryptogamous
plants. Like one of these, it is capable of germination. When deposited
upon the moist surface of the stigma (or in some cases even when at a
certain distance) it grows from some point, its living inner coat
breaking through the inert outer coat, and protruding in the form of a
delicate tube. This as it lengthens penetrates the loose tissue of the
stigma and of a loose conducting tissue in the style, feeds upon the
nourishing liquid matter there provided, reaches the cavity of the
ovary, enters the orifice of an ovule, and attaches its extremity to a
sac, or the lining of a definite cavity, in the ovule, called the
_Embryo-Sac_.

344. =Origination of the Embryo.= A globule of living matter in the
embryo-sac is formed, and is in some way placed in close proximity to
the apex of the pollen tube; it probably absorbs the contents of the
latter; it then sets up a special growth, and the _Embryo_ (8-10) or
rudimentary plantlet in the seed is the result.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Beginning with one by C. C. Sprengel in 1793, and again in our day
with Darwin, "On the Various Contrivances by which Orchids are
fertilized by Insects," and in succeeding works.

Section XIV. THE FRUIT.

345. =Its Nature.= The ovary matures into the Fruit. In the strictest
sense the fruit is the seed-vessel, technically named the PERICARP. But
practically it may include other parts organically connected with the
pericarp. Especially the calyx, or a part of it, is often incorporated
with the ovary, so as to be undistinguishably a portion of the pericarp,
and it even forms along with the receptacle the whole bulk of such
edible fruits as apples and pears. The receptacle is an obvious part in
blackberries, and is the whole edible portion in the strawberry.

346. Also a cluster of distinct carpels may, in ripening, be
consolidated or compacted, so as practically to be taken for one fruit.
Such are raspberries, blackberries, the Magnolia fruit, etc. Moreover,
the ripened product of many flowers may be compacted or grown together
so as to form a single compound fruit.

347. =Its kinds= have therefore to be distinguished. Also various names
of common use in descriptive botany have to be mentioned and defined.

348. In respect to composition, accordingly, fruits may be classified
into

_Simple_, those which result from the ripening of a single pistil, and
consist only of the matured ovar