PERICARPIUM, (from περί, "round," and σπόρο, "fruit,") the feed-vessel; an entrail of the plant big with seeds, which it discharges when ripe. The feed-vessel is in fact the developed feed-bud, and may very properly be compared to the fecundated ovary in animals; for it does not exist till after the fertilizing of the seeds by the male-dust, and the con-
sequent fall of the flower. All plants, however, are Perichorus not furnished with a feed-vessel; in such as are deprived of it, the receptacle or calix performs its functions by inclosing the seeds, as in a matrix, and accompanying them to perfect maturity.