The act of fructifying, or rendering productive of fruit; fecundation.

In botany, the temporary part of a plant appropriated to generation, terminating the old vegetable and beginning the new. It consists of seven parts, the calyx, impalement or flower-cup, the corol or petals, the stamens, and the pistil, which belong to the flower, the pericarp and seed, which pertain to the fruit, and the receptacle or base, on which the other parts are seated. The receptacle belongs both to the flower and fruit.