y,' 'frugivorous'--and 'usufruct,' they are unaccustomed to the
Latin 'fruor,' and unconscious therefore that the derivative 'fructus' must
always, in right use, mean an _enjoyed_ thing, they generalize every mature
vegetable product under the term; and we find Dr. Gray coolly telling us
that there is no fruit so "likely to be mistaken for a seed," as a grain of
corn! a grain, whether of corn, or any other {233} grass, being precisely
the vegetable structure to which frutescent change is forever forbidden!
and to which the word _seed_ is primarily and perfectly applicable!--the
thing to be _sown_, not grafted.

9. But to mark this total incapability of frutescent change, and connect
the form of the seed more definitely with its dusty treasure, it is better
to reserve, when we are speaking with precision, the term 'grain' for the
seeds of the grasses: the difficulty is greater in French than in English:
because they have no monosyllabic word for the constantly granular 'seed';
but for us the terms are all simple, and already in right use, only not
quite clearly enough understood; and there remains only one real difficulty
now in our system of nomenclature, that having taken the word 'husk' for
the seed-vessel, we are left without a general word for the true fringe of
a filbert, or the chaff of a grass. I don't know whether the French
'frange' could be used by them in this sense, if we took it in English
botany. But for the present, we can manage well enough without it, one
general term, 'chaff,' serving for all the grasses, 'cup' for acorns, and
'fringe' for nuts.

10. But I call this a _real_ difficulty, because I suppose, among the
myriads of plants of which I know nothing, there may be forms of the
envelope of fruits or seeds which may, for comfort of speech, require some
common generic name. One _un_real difficulty, or shadow of difficulty,
remains in our having no entirely comprehensive {234} name for seed and
seed-vessel together than that the botanists now use, 'fruit.' But
practically, even now, people feel that they can't gather figs of thistles,
and never speak of the fructification of a thistle, or of the fruit of a
dandelion. And, re-assembling now, in one view, the words we have
determined on, they will be found enough for all practical service, and in
such service always accurate, and, usually, suggestive. I repeat them in
brief order, with such farther explanation as they need.

11. All ripe products of t