﻿THE GERMINATION OF HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS. 



93 



treatment. Especially worthy of note are, besides the 

 articles referred to above, those of Asa Gray,* Prantl,t and 

 the excellently illustrated and thorough treatment of Pohl.J 

 At the same time, but little appears to have been published 

 on the details of the germination, the various authors con- 

 tenting themselves with descriptions and drawings of the 

 mature seedling. For this reason use was made of the ample 

 material at hand to furnish the plate accompanying this 

 article. 



The 12-20 spirally arranged and fleshy carpels of the single 

 terminal flower of the Golden Seal are crimson when ripe and 

 contain either one or two seeds. The 

 latter are ovoid, with an average length 

 of 3 mm., are provided with a black, 

 hard and shiny coat and contain a 

 fleshy albumen and a minute embryo 

 (figure), the whole arising from an 

 anatropous, pendulous ovule with vent- 

 ral raphe. 



Under natural conditions the seed- 

 lings appear in the last week of April 

 or in the early part of May. They con- 

 sist of a primary root provided with 

 5-6 lateral rootlets and 2 pale-green cotyledons on a short 

 hypocotyl. The latter are petiolate, finely hirsute on both 

 surfaces and possess one median and two lateral nerves orig- 

 inating at the base. Their shape is ovoid with a notched and 

 sometimes mucronate tip. The average length is 15 mm. with 

 a width of 10 mm. The petioles are from 25-30 mm. long 

 and are slightly channelled, being hirsute like the cotyledons. 

 The hypocotyl is about 5 mm. in length. 



* Gray, A. Genera of the Plants of the United States. Boston. 1848. 

 t Prantl. Beitrage zur Morphologie und Systematik derRanunculaceen. 

 (Bot. Jahrb. 9: 225. 1888). 



X Pohl, Julius. Botanische Mitteilung iiber Hydrastis canadensis. 



(Bibl. Bot. e**. 1894). 



SECTION OF SEED 

 ABOUT TO GERMINATE. 



