PERICARPUM, (from per "round," and carp "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-duct, and the consequent fall of the flower. All plants, however, are not furnished with a feed vessel; in such as are deprived of it, the receptacle or calyx performs its functions by inclosing the seeds, as in a matrix, and accompanying them to perfect maturity.