Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/314

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SPURIOUS KINDS OF BACCÆ.

the simple many-seeded berries of the Vine, Gooseberry, &c.

The Orange and Lemon are true Berries, with a thick coat. The Melon and Cucumber tribe have a peculiar sort of Berry for which Gærtner uses the name of Pepo, Gourd; and he defines it a Berry whose cells, together with the seeds, are remote from the axis or centre, the seeds being inserted into the sides of the fruit. Passiflora suberosa, Exot. Bot. t. 28, shows this insertion, being nearly allied to the same tribe; but in this genus the pulp invests each seed separately, forming Acini within the common cavity.

Some fruits ranged by Linnæus as Drupæ with many seeds, on account of the hardness of the shells of those seeds, are best perhaps, on account of their number, considered by Gærtner as Baccæ. Among these are Mespilus, the Medlar.

There are several spurious kinds of berries, whose pulp is not properly a part of the fruit, but originates from some other organ. Thus, in the Mulberry, as well as the Strawberry Spinach, Blitum, Curt.