A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Pericarp (Eng.noun): “… sometimes used to designate a fruit” (Bailey); the ‘fruit wall;’ “the part of a fruit formed from the wall of the ripened ovary” (Oxford Languages); “the ripened ovary wall, or pericarp, which may develop entirely or in part into fleshy, fibrous, or stony tissue” (after Britannica); “the layer that develops from the ovary wall around the seed of a plant after it is fertilized and forms the skin and flesh of the fruit” (Cambridge Dictionary);

“taken as a whole; when it separates into layers, each layer may have a different name, but the whole is still the pericarp” (Lindley); the wall of a fructified ovary; also, the wall of the capsule in mosses; "improperly used of the protective husks surrounding certain fruits" (Jackson); “the wall of the matured ovary” (Fernald 1950); “the ripened and variously modified walls of a plant ovary that are thin and foliaceous or membranous (as in the legume and most capsules), fleshy (as in berries), or hard and bony (as in nuts) and are more or less homogeneous or consist of up to three distinct layers” (WIII):

pericarpium,-ii (s.n.II), abl. sg. pericarpio, nom. & acc. pl. pericarpia, dat. & abl. pl. pericarpiis; see epicarp (=exocarp), mesocarp;

NOTE: abbrev. per. or Per., q.v. (in fungi): “a covering; also, the entire fruit body” (S&D).

- testa membranacea saepeque pericarpio adhaerente, rarius crassiore (B&H), seedcoat membranaceous and often with the pericarp adhering, more rarely thicker.

- capsula globosa v. ovoidea, extus papillosa tuberculosa v.echinata, evalvis, pericarpio deliquescente demum fibroso, capsule globose or ovoid, externally papillose tuberculose or echinate, lacking valves, with the pericarp wasting away, ultimately fibrous.

- pericarpium tenuissime membranaceum, post anthesin stylo delapso mox deliquescens nec auctum.(B&H), the pericarp very thin, membranaceous, after anthesis the style having fallen away, soon dissolving, not increased.

- intra pericarpium celluloso-membranaceum apice poro regulari pertusum (Agardh), within a cellulose-membranaceous pericarpium perforated by a uniform apical pore.

- nux parva, 2—3-locularis, pericarpio extus corrugato (B&H), nut small, 2-3-locular, externally with a corrugated pericarp.

- pericarpium saepius canalibus oleiferis percursum (B&H), the pericarpium more often run through with an oil-bearing canal.

- caryopsis profunde rugata, pericarpio pellucente (F. Mueller), the caryopsis, deeply wrinkled, with the pericarp transparent.

- in pericarpiis nucum Fagi dejectis semiputribus udis iuxta fontes rivulosque (Eulenbach) (S&A), on the fallen, half-rotted wet shells of the nuts of Fagus, beside streams and brooks.

- (algae) sporae minus arcte cohaerent suntque eam ob causam pericarpio communi inclusae (Agardh), the spores are less tightly coherent and they are, for this reason enclosed within a common pericarpium.

- (algae) nemathecia itaque esse organa luxurianti vegetatione a normali functione aversa et partibus accessoriis ( Pericarpio ) tota constituta existimaverim (Agardh), and so I [would/could have] judged the nemathecia to be organs with luxuriant growth, in opposition to their normal function, and all constituted of accessory parts (the pericarpium).

- (algae) frondes membranaceo-corneae, cellulis aut filis periphericis in stratum compactum coalescentibus, Favellidia semiprostantia, intra stratum frondis externum in pericarpium subtransformatum nidulantia (Agardh), the fonds membranaceous to the texture of horn, with the peripheral cells or filaments coalescent into a compact layer, the favellidia somewhat projecting, nesting within an outer layer of the frond, almost transformed into a pericarpium.

NOTE: in algae the noun pericarpium is often associated with (accessory) structures associated with the cystocarpium, which is “in the red algae, the fruiting structure produced after fertilization, especially such a structure having a special protective envelope (as in Polysiphonia)” (WIII), which is the keramidium,-ii (s.n.II), q.v.; see also the favella,-ae (s.f.I), and favellidium,-ii (s.n.II);

- (algae) Capsulae sunt fructus Floridearum, qui, plerumque externi, intra pericarpium varie formatum sporas magno numero collectas continent (Agardh), capsules are the fruits of the Florideae, which, usually external, contain within the variously formed pericarp spores, gathered together in a great number.

- (algae) algae dioicae, fructu duplici semper in diversis individuis: uno saepissime externo, intra pericarpium subgelatinosum aut cellulosum sporas numerosas fovente; altero saepissime immerso intra perisporium hyalinum sporas 4 generante (Agardh), algae dioicous, with the fruit always double in different individuals; with one most often external, within the nearly gelatinous pericarpium or enfolding numerous cellulose spores; the other most often immersed within a hyaline perisporium, generating 4 spores.

- (algae) fructus capsularis sequentes modificationes in generibus diversis Floridearum offert. — in Ceramieis constat pericarpio hyalino subgelatinoso, intra quod sporae oblongae numerosa laxius nidulantur ( = Favellaè)(Agardh), the fruit presents the following modifications in the diverse genera of the Florideae. In Ceramieae it consists of a hyaline, almost gelatinous pericarp, within which numerous, oblong spores are nested (= the Favellae).

In algae, a coccidium seems to be a kind of pericarp:

- In Sphoerococcoideis et Delesserieis est fructus capsularis subsphaericus (aut hemisphaericus) et intra pericarpium cellulosum, distentione vel dilaceratione denique apertum, sporas oblongas ' in glomerulum arcte congestas e placenta centrali egredientes fovens; capsulas has Coccidia nominavi (Agardh), in Sphaerococcoideae and Delesserieae there is a nearly spheric (or hemispheric) capsular fruit, and within the cellulose pericarp, with distension or being torn apart, finally opened, enclosing oblong spores tightly congested into a glomerule issuing from the central placenta; I am calling these capsules Coccidia.

In algae, the keramidium seems to be a kind of pericarp:

- In Rhodomeleis et Chondrieis denique sunt Keramidia plerumque ovata aut urceolata, rarius subsphaerica (Rytiphloea), intra pericarpium celluloso-membranaceum apice poro regulari pertusum, sporas pyriformes ad placentam basalem affìxas gerentia (Agardh), in Rhodomeleae and Chondrieae, finally, there are keramidia, usually ovate or urceolate, more rarely subsphaerical (Rhytiphloea), within a cellulose-membranaceous pericarpium perforated by a uniform apical pore, bearing pyriform spores attached to the basal placenta.

copulativus,-a,-um (adj.A): or or pertaining to connecting, copulative; “[obsol.] those dissepiments are thus called which do not separate well from either the axis or walls of a pericarp” (Lindley).

Pericarpium,-ii (s.n.II): “the peridium of certain Fungals” (Lindley).

Perisperm, q.v., “the pericarp or even the integuments of a seed” (Jackson): perispermium,-ii (s.n.II), abl.sg. perispermio.

Saccellus,-i (s.m.II), abl.sg. saccello: a little bag; “1. a one-seeded indehiscent pericarp, inclosed within a hardened calyx, as the Marvel of Peru [Mirabilis jalapa]; 2. applied to such fruits as those of Chenopodium, which burst irregularly” (Jackson).

Schizocarp, q.v., a dry, indehiscent fruit splitting into separate one-seeded segments (carpels) at maturity; “”a pericarp which splits into one-seeded portions, mericarps, or ‘split-fruits’” (Fernald 1950).

Utriculus,-i (s.m.II), “ the bladderlike covering or pericarp of certain fungi, as Dendrogaster.” (S&D); see utricle.