Siliqua

Siliqua, a dry syncarpous superior fruit, typically made up of two carpels and two-chambered, though having parietal placentation (q.v.). It bas a replum, or persistent septum, formed by outgrowth from the placentas, and valvular dehiscence, the two carpels separating from below, leaving the seeds attached to the replum. The siliqua is generally flattened, either parallel with the (broad) replum, when the fruit is termed latisept, or at right angles to the (narrow) replum, when it is called angustisept. The typical siliqua is elongated and pod-like, as in the cabbages, mustard's, wallflowers, etc. When shorter than its breadth, it is called a silicle (silicula), as in the shepherd's purse (q.v.), the two varieties forming the typical fruits of the order Cruciferae (q.v.). Exceptionally (Tetrapoma) there are four carpels; or the siliqua is transversely constricted between the seeds, as in radishes. It is then termed lomentacous. A fruit much resembling a siliqua occurs in Chelidonium and Glaucium, belonging to the allied order Papaveraceae.