Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-04-03

The True Difference Between Fruits
and Vegetables.

and Vegetables. ~
Among the infinite variety Of forms in
to which the different parts and organs o
plants are developed, we find some of ou
choicest and most valuable fruit products
The leaves Of many plants, like the let
tuce, chicory, dandelion, parsley, etc.
are largely consumed as salad OF cookeC
as greens. In celery, we do not eat tn,
Leaf, but an abnormally thickened petiole
or leaf stock, and asparagus heads are tn,
young shoots gathered before they de
velop into branches. It is highly neces
sary for the preservation of plant tha
its seeds should be spread widely over tn,
ground, and we find that the fully devel
oped seeds of many plants are surrounded
by pericarp of substances attractive an6
palatable to animals.
In the apple and ounce, the caly,
leaves and receptacle become altered anc
fieshy, to form the edible part of thu
fruit. The strawberry is not true berr,
at all, for the fruit is not ripened pistil
but an enlarged and feshy receptacle, OF
extremity of the flower stalk, thickl,
dotted over with the minute ripened
ovaries containing the seed, and usually
mistaken for the seeds themselves. The
| tig, also, consists of such an enlarged re
ceptacle, but it has been, as it were
turned inside out and the seed-like ovar-
les are on the inside. A ripened rose-hiI
shows the same structure in lesser de
gree.
Mulberries and pineapples consist Of
the ripened products Of many flowers,
placed on common receptacle, which il
itself part of the edible mass. The
gaultheria or checkerberry is not berry,
but the thickened calyx of the flower
which incloses a dry pod containing the
seed. The true berry is permanently
closed, ripened pistil, inclosing the seeds.
Familiar examples are the grape, currani
and cranberry, as well as the orange,
pumpkin and gourd. The peach, plum,
ETC., are known as drupes, or stone fruits,
in which the inner part of the pericarp OF
ripened pistil is hard and bone-like. in
closing the seed, while outside of this is
the feshy, edible layer.
The raspberry and blackberry are not
true berries, but are composed Of num-
Der of little drupes or drupelets, placed
together on an elongated recepta-
Gle. In the raspberry, the drupelets are
readily detached from the receptacle, but
In the blackberry the whole coheres
strongly together, and the receptacle is
eaten with the rest of the fruit. A nut is
stone fruit, or drupe, in which the
tieshy part is absent. The true seed is
inclosed within the shell, forming the ed
ible part. There are other plants in
which the ripened pistil opens at matur-
ity, freeing the seeds within. The pea
and bean are familiar examples. The un-
developed seeds of the former delight our
appetite as green peas, while the un-
ripened pistil and seeds of the bean are
boiled together, and appear as string
beans.
The modification of roots also furnish
many valuable vegetables. Most of these,
however, are not true roots, but subter-
ranean stems, as is shown by the presence
OF buds, or scars where buds have pre-
viously formed and dropped off. Thes
called roots of ginger and sweet flag are
merely thickened portions of a subterran-
can stem, called the rhizoma, or root
stock. Tubers, like the potato and
Jerusalem artichoke (which, by the way,
is not an artichoke, and did not origin
ate in Jerusalem) are the enlarged buds
OF these subterranean branches, in which
large proportion of starch has been de-
posted. Examples of similar tendency
to form tubers have been observed in the
stems of the potato-plant above the
ground. A bulb, like the onion. is
formed by the enlargement of the leaves
OF an underground stem, as shown by the
scales or layers of which it is composed.
Solid bulbs, or corms, are not true bulbs,
but an enlarged underground stem.
In the turnip, beet and radish the up
per part of the root itself shares in the
enlargement, SO that these vegetables
are of a compound nature. The object
Of these underground enlargements is ey-
Identity to lay up store of nourishment
for the plant during the succeeding sea-
son. The caulifower furnishes an exam
pie OF the use of the undeveloped flowers
Of plant as an article of food, and in the
true artichoke the thick, feshy plant
scales are utilized in the same manner.
We have thus seen that there is hardly
any portion Of plant which may not be
so modified as to become food for man.
We have thus seen that the strawberry,
raspberry and blackberry are not really
berries, but that the squash and pumpkin
are, while the potato, onion aud flag-root
are not true roots. These are only. few
Of the wonderfully interesting lessons
taught by the science of botany. -[ Popu.
lar Science News.