In the pea and marrow there are many seeds, but there are large numbers
of fruits in which we find only one. For example, in plums, cherries,
and peaches we have a fleshy outer fruit-case with a stony lining
covering over one large seed. Such fruits do not open, for there is
only one seed within, and so the fruit is scattered whole. These fruits
nearly always get scattered by animals, for the flesh is very sweet
and attractive to eat, and then, as a rule, they get rid of the stone
(which contains the seed) at some distance from the parent.
[Illustration: Fig. 82. Cherry fruit cut open, showing the flesh (~f~),
stone (~s~), and seed S.]
Sometimes we find a number of fruits just like the cherry clustered
together, only instead of each of them being large, they are all very
small, so that the whole cluster of fruits may be the size of a single
cherry. This is the case in the common blackberry and the raspberry,
where each of the little fruitlets really corresponds to a cherry.
Then there are many fruits which belong to quite a different class, and
arrange to scatter themselves by the help of the ~wind~, such as the
fruits of the dandelion, thistle, and many others, which have light
“parachutes,” and therefore blow away with the least puff of wind when
they are ripe and dry (~see~ fig. 83).
[Illustration: Fig. 83. A, head of Dandelion fruits, with most of them
scattered. B, single Dandelion fruit.]
Other fruits like the sycamore have big side-wings which catch the wind
as they fall, and get twirled for some distance. ~In these cases each
of the separate parts which flies is really a~ =fruit=, only in the
case of the dandelion, thistle, and many others, each of these fruits
contains only one seed, and the fruit itself is so small and dry that
we get into the way of speaking of the whole fruit as a “seed.” This
is not correct, however, because even though there is only one seed
present, yet it is surrounded by the dry remains of the ripe carpel,
and is therefore a fruit.
~Simple seeds which have wings~ are rather rare, but we find them on
pine seeds (~see~ fig. 125), and the seeds of the willow herb are
covered with a number of silky hairs, which make them so light that
they fly in the wind. It you watch a spray of willow herb ripening, you
will find that the old carpels, or fruits, split up into four parts and
let out a number of fluffy white seeds. These are true ~flying seeds~
(~see~ fig. 84).
[Illustration: Fig. 84. Fruit of the Willow herb, opening and allowing
the flying seeds to escape.]
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