Follicle

Follicle, a dry, many-seeded, one-chambered carpel which splits, when ripe, down one suture, generally the ventral suture. This latter character alone differentiates it from the legume (q.v.), which splits down both sutures. A single follicle seldom forms a fruit by itself, though it does so in some species of larkspur (Delphinium). More commonly two, three, five, or more, occur in a ring, as in the peony, most larkspurs, columbines, aconites, hellebores, and marsh marigolds (Caltha), and in the flowering-rush (Butomus); or a still greater number may occur arranged spirally in an eteerio (q.v.), asin Magnolia. [Fruit.]