370. =The Capsule=, the dry and dehiscent fruit of any compound pistil. The capsule may discharge its seeds through chinks or pores, as in the Poppy, or burst irregularly in some part, as in Lobelia and the Snapdragon; but commonly it splits open (or is _dehiscent_) lengthwise into regular pieces, called VALVES. [Illustration: Fig. 395. Capsule of Iris, with loculicidal dehiscence; below, cut across.] [Illustration: Fig. 396. Pod of a Marsh St. John's-wort, with septicidal dehiscence.] 371. Regular _Dehiscence_ in a capsule takes place in two ways, which are best illustrated in pods of two or three cells. It is either _Loculicidal_, or, splitting directly into the _loculi_ or cells, that is, down the back (or the dorsal suture) of each cell or carpel, as in Iris (Fig. 395); or _Septicidal_, that is, splitting through the partitions or _septa_, as in St. John's-wort (Fig. 396), Rhododendron, etc. This divides the capsule into its component carpels, which then open by their ventral suture. [Illustration: Fig. 397, 398. Diagrams of the two modes.] [Illustration: Fig. 399. Diagram of septifragal dehiscence of the loculicidal type. 400. Same of the septicidal or _marginicidal_ type.] 372. In loculicidal dehiscence the valves naturally bear the partitions on their middle; in the septicidal, half the thickness of a partition is borne on the margin of each valve. See the annexed diagrams. A variation of either mode occurs when the valves break away from the partitions, these remaining attached in the axis of the fruit. This is called _Septifragal_ dehiscence. One form is seen in the Morning-Glory (Fig. 400). 373. The capsules of Rue, Spurge, and some others, are both loculicidal and septicidal, and so split into half-carpellary valves or pieces. 374. =The Silique= (Fig. 401) is the technical name of the peculiar pod of the Mustard family; which is two-celled by a false partition stretched across between two parietal placentæ. It generally opens by two valves from below upward, and the placentæ with the partition are left behind when the valves fall off. 375. =A Silicle or Pouch= is only a short and broad silique, like that of the Shepherd's Purse, Fig. 402, 403. [Illustration: Fig. 401. Silique of a Cadamine or Spring Cress.] [Illustration: Fig. 402. Silicle of Shepherd's Purse.] [Illustration: Fig. 403. Same, with one valve removed.] [Illustration: Fig. 404. Pyxis of Purslane, the lid detaching.] 376. =The Pyxis= is a pod which opens by a circular horizontal line, the upper part forming a lid, as in Purslane (Fig. 404), the Plantain, Henbane, etc. In these the dehiscence extends all round, or is _circumscissile_. So it does in Amaranth (Fig. 387), forming a one-seeded utricular pyxis. In Jeffersonia, the line does not separate quite round, but leaves a portion for a hinge to the lid.