seed: but they were afterwards referred to the order Pomaceat.

5.* THE pericarp of the Elm, just mentioned, and also of the Maple, the Ash, and many other vegetables, has been denominated by Gærtner, Willdenow, &c., Samara, or the Winged fruit. It is a pericarpium, which contains one or at most two seeds, and is surrounded by a thin transparent membrane, either in its whole circumference, or at the point, or even at the side. The different kinds of samara are determined by the number of the seeds, whether there be only one, as in Ptelia trifoliata; or two as in Maple: or according to the place to which the thin membrane, called ala, or the wing, is attached.

6. THE Pomum, or Pome§, or Apple", is a pulpy pericarp, without valves, but containing a membranous capsule††, with a number of cells or cavities, for the lodgment of the seeds. This species of pericarp, of which the common Apple, the Pear and the Quince furnish examples, has no external opening or valve.

BESIDES the Apple, Pear, and Quince,-the Gourd, the Cucumber, the Melon, and many others, are, according to Linnæus, examples of this species of pericarp. But Gærtner and other late botanists have very properly given to the pericarp of the three last mentioned plants, another name, viz. that of Pepo, the Pumpkin, or Gourd.

See Class x11. ICOSANDRIA.

Dr. Smith, who considers the samara as a species of capsule, remarks, that the term "may well be dispensed with, especially as it is the name of a ge aus in Linnæus; an objection to which Cotyledon too is liable."

§ Dr. Martyn.

Dr. I. E. Smith.

"Pericarpium farctum evalve, Capsulam continens."

7. THE Bacca, or Berry, is a succulent or pulpy pericarp, without valves, and containing naked seeds, or seeds which have no other covering. The seeds, in this species of pericarp, are sometimes dispersed promiscuously through the pulpy substance, as in the WaterLily but they are more generally placed upon receptacles, or foot-stalks, within the pulp; as in the Currant, the Gooseberry, the Raspberry, the Hydrastis, called in the United-States, Yellow-root, and many others. To the former kind of seed, Linnæus has given the name of semina nidulantia, or nestling seed.

a. THE berry assumes a considerable variety of forms. It is, however, very frequently round, or oval, and is often furnished with an umbilicus, or small cavity, at the end opposite to the foot-stalk, as is the case in the Apple, and other species of the pomum. This species of berry is called, by Linnæus, bacca umbilicata.

b. ACCORDING to the number of seeds which it contains, the bacca is, 1. monosperma, one-seeded; containing a single seed; as in Plinia, &c. 2. disperma, two-seeded; containing two seeds; as in Chiococca. 3. polysperma, many-seeded; containing several seeds; as in the Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), Witheringia, May-apple (Podophyllum peltatum), and others.

IN the use of the term bacca, or berry, Linnæus is sometimes as inconsistent as in the use of the term drupe. Thus, he calls the pericarp of Lesser-Burdock (Xanthium) a berry but it is dry, and contains within it a nut, which is furnished with two cells! Again, he calls the pericarp of Capsicum, a berry. But this has

C C

no pulp, and is hollow within. The following pericarps, though, certainly, very different from each other, are all denominated by Linnæus, berries, viz. Sumach (Rhus), Nightshade (Solanum), Sow-bread (Cyclamen), Medlar (Mespilus), Orange and Lemon (Citrus Aurantium and C. medica), Yew (Taxus), and Pineapple, or Bromelia.

C. THE berry is said to be proper, or improper. The former is formed of the pericarp, or seed-vessel. The latter is formed of any of the other parts of the fructification. Thus, in the Mulberry, the Rose, the Blite (Blitum), and Myrtle-leaved Sumach (Rhus Coriaria), the large, fleshy, and succulent calyx becomes a berry. In the Strawberry and Cashew-nut (Anacardium), it is formed from the receptacle: in the Raspberry and Adonis, of a seed in the Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis) of the nectary in the Garden Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba) of the tube of the corolla, which hardens and shuts, for the purpose.

CERTAIN fruits, such as Mulberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, not to mention many others, which are generally regarded as berries, have, with more propriety, been denominated Compound and Spurious Berries: for in these, each of the component parts, which are called acini, or granules, may, very properly, be considered as a distinct berry, containing a single seed, immersed in the pulpy matter.

THE berry does not spontaneously gap or burst, as do the four first species of pericarp which I have mentioned, viz. the capsule, the silique and silicle, the legume, and the follicle, or conceptacle. Birds and other

species of animals, as we shall afterwards see, are very instrumental in the dissemination or dispersion of various kinds of berries. "Finis Baccæ, says Linnæus, "ut semina ab animalibus serantur: e. gr. Viscum*".

FOR representations of different kinds of berry, see, in this work, Plates 1, 1X, XIV, XVIII.

8. THE Strobilus†, or Strobile, is the last species of pericarp enumerated by Linnæus. He defines it, a pericarp formed from an ament by the induration of the scales. This is the definition as given in the Termini Botanici. In the Delineatio Planta, it is thus expressed, "Strobilus imbricatus amenti coarctati". That is, the strobile is made up of scales that are imbricate, or lie over each other, from an ament contracted or squeezed together, in this state of maturity. "This "term includes (as Dr. Martyn observes) not only "the cone of former writers, but also some other fruits, which recede considerably in structure from "that sort of pericarp; as that of Magnolia", Tulip-tree (Liriodendron), and others. It must be evident, therefore, that it is improper to translate strobilus by cone, as has been done by some writers.

THE strobile assumes a variety of forms in different vegetables.

Philosophia Botanica, &c. p. 75. §. 113.

† Strobilus has very different significations in the Latin language; it signifies a wild Pine-tree, a Pine-apple, an Artichoke, and, also, a whirl-wind.

ALTHOUGH Linnæus, in the later editions of his works, has discarded the term cone, and adopted that of strobile, he has, nevertheless, retained an order of vegetables, which he calls Conifera, or Cone-bearing, of which notice will be taken in a subsequent part of the work. To this order belong the Fir, the Pine, the Cypress, the Thuja, and others.

BESIDE the eight species of pericarp above mentioned, four other species are enumerated by Professor Scopoli, of Pavia. These are the Theca, the Granatum, the Cysta, and the Scrinum. Of each of these, it proper that I should take some notice.

is

9. THE Thecat s de fined to be a double involucre of the seed, the exterior covering bursting open; the interior one, which is either pulpy, membranaceous, hairy, or woolly or brittle, envolving the seed. "Fructus "cum involucro duplici; exterius, dehiscens, interius, pulposum, membranaceum, pilosum, lanatum aut fragile, semina obvolvens‡". We have examples of this species of pericarp in the Euonymus, or Spindletree, and in the Celastrus, or Staff-tree, and several others. Linnæus was not unacquainted with this species of pericarp. He did not, however, consider it as a pericarp, but as the proper and exterior coat or covering of the seed, which falls off spontaneously, or encloses the seed partially. I think, however, that the theca may very properly be considered as a species of pericarp. In this opinion, I follow not only the learned Scopoli

See Part III. Class XXI. MONOECIA.

Theca, in Latin, signifies a sheath or case, also a box or bag, and the husk of corn.

Necker. See his Corollarium, &c. p. 28.

Arillus.