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402 3FRTJITS IN THEIR SEASGK.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
«- X. A Pottjle Op Stea.Wbeeeies. Adopti...
petal in European -kinds , and five or six in those of America- _— - surrounding . a little central mound formed by the ovariesit
pre-, sents an appearance very similar to that of the common buttercup , but on examination proves to differ from it in the circumstance
of the stamens not rising directly from the receptacle "beneath the * ovariesbut _seeming rather to grow out of the sides of the calyxa
fact which , distinguishes it froin the often poisonous Polyandria , of _Iiinnaeus and _Ranunculaceae of Lindley , and classes it with the ever-:
wholesome _Linnsean Icosandria and _LdndleyanKosacese , or rose-like ; flowers . The little convexity occupying the centre consists of a
number of distinct _^ ovaries , sometimes amounting to a hundred , and-Duchesne had even counted as many as three hundrednot adhering
, , but pressed into close proximity , and all inserted into a common receptacle . When the snowy petals have fallen off , and the
stamens shrivelled away , the nest-like calyx closes round this ; cluster of tender fledlingswhile the receptacle on which . they are
g , pillowed begins to swell beneath them , gradually bearing therq : up and apart , wider and wider as it distends , till they lie scattered _^
in the form , of seeds all over the surface ; of what has now become a _^ softcrimsonjuicy masslike u band of brethren carried by the _^ _y
force , of chang , ing circumstances , far from , the common house of their infancy , and severed to meet no more till the whole fabric of
their world shall dissolve . The pressure of a human lip can re-unite them ic twice , and bless who 'd " can ? say Thoug that h termed the fulfiller in common of the parlance tender office a " berry is not "
, the strawberry therefore , botanically speaking , is merely . " a fleshy receptacle studded with seeds , " the green calyx still femaining at
the base , at once an ornament and protection to the fruit , whieli , bending downwards with its own weight , finds the same leafjr
cover stretched above it as a shelter , which was spread beneath , the liht upward turned flower as a support . The pulpy mass into
which g this receptacle has grown , is covered with a thin epidermis or skin , pierced under each ovary to afford a passage to the
vessels which nourish it , and which stretches as the fruit enlarges ; but as the vessels do not elongate in proportionthe seeds lie eafch
embedded in a little niche , with the soft substance , of the voluptuotls cushion on which they repose swelling up between and around them .
These seeds ( as they are commonly called , though really seedvessels ) are irregular oval grains , enveloped in two skins , and
divided vertically into two lobes , between which , at the point , is the embryoin a reversed positionwith the radicleor fixture root ,
pointing , upwards , and the plantule , , or future stem , , downwards . The above description refers of course to the perfect flower , in
which every part essential to fructification is fully developed ,, but , as has been mentioned before ; in some tribes the blossoms are of
different sexes upon different plants . They are not considered to bo so decidedly distinct as in the case of the palms , a careful study
showing that one part of the organization in the respective flowers
402 3frtjits In Their Seasgk.
402 3 FRTJITS IN THEIR _SEASGK .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1861, page 402, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081861/page/42/
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