Page:British Flowering Plants.djvu/33

Rh (fig. 106); or the pericarp is united with the palea, or inner covering of the seed, as in the Grasses; or the ovary is inferior, and partly combined with the nut (or achene as it is sometimes called), as in the Dandelion. Not infrequently a seed or seed-case bears at the extremity a bristle, called an awn; or a feathery appendage, called a pappus.

In succulent fruits the outer covering or pericarp is fleshy or juicy.

A berry is a fruit enclosed in a leathery skin (epicarp) and enclosing one or more seeds embedded in pulp. Such are Gooseberries and Currants, and (botanically) even the fruit of such exotic plants as Cucumbers and Melons. A drupe is a fruit in which the seed (one or more) has a membranous or woody covering within the pulp. When the covering of the seed is hard and woody, as in the Plum, Cherry, and Walnut, the fruit is called a stone-fruit (figs. 107 a, b, c); but the compound fruits of the Strawberry and Raspberry are also ranked as drupes.