Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/313

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THE BACCA.
283

containing one or more Seeds, enveloped with pulp. It becomes more juicy internally as it advances to maturity, quite contrary to the nature of a Capsule, though the difference between these two unripe fruits may not be discernible, and though some true Berries, when fully ripe, finally become of a dry and spongy texture; but they never open by valves or any regular orifice. Examples of a Bacca are seen in Atropa Belladonna, Engl. Bot. t. 592, and Ribes, t. 128992. The same part in Hedera, t. 1267, is of a more mealy substance. In Cucubalus, t. 1577, the coat only is pulpy. In Trientalis, t. 15, the coat becomes very dry and brittle as soon as ripe, and the cavity of the fruit is nearly filled by a globular columella. See Gærtner, t. 50.

Bacca composita, a Compound Berry, consists of several single ones, each containing a seed, united together, as in Rubus, the Raspberry, Bramble, &c., Engl. Bot. t. 715, 716, 826, 827. Each of the separate parts is denominated an Acinus, or Grain, which term Gærtner extends to