capsule

In botany, a dry, usually many-seeded fruit formed from an ovary composed of two or more fused carpels, which splits open to release the seeds. The same term is used for the spore-containing structure of mosses and liverworts; this is borne at the top of a long stalk or seta.

Capsules burst open (dehisce) in various ways, including lengthwise, by a transverse lid – for example, scarlet pimpernel Anagallis arvensis – or by a number of pores, either towards the top of the capsule, as in the poppy Papaver, or near the base, as in certain species of bellflower Campanula.