Ch. XV.] THE SEED. 93 



grasses, corn, &c. : in the nutmeg, which has very small coty 

 ledons, it is remarkable for its variegated appearance and aro- 

 matic quality. It chiefly abounds in plants which have but one 

 cotyledon. 



PJO-. 64. 382. Fig. 64 represents the garden bean ; 



a shows the cotyledons ; b and c, the em- 

 bryo ; d shows the petioles or stems of the 

 cotyledons. 



;,' \ 383. Cotyledons (from a Greek word, 

 kotule, a cavity,) are the thick fleshy lobe? 

 of seeds, which encircle the embryo. In 

 beans they grow out of the ground in the 

 form of two large leaves. Cotyledons are 

 :',,./ the first visible leaves in all seeds, al- 

 most always fleshy and spongy, of a suc- 

 culent and nourishing substance, which 

 serves for the food of the embryo at the 

 moment of its germinating. Nature seems to have provided the 

 cotyledons to nourish the plant in its tender infancy. After 

 seeing their young charge sufficiently vigorous to sustain life 

 without their assistance, they, in most plants, wither and die. 

 The number of cotyledons varies in different plants; there are 

 some plants which have none. 



384. Acotyledons, are those plants which have no cotyledons 

 in their seeds; such as the cryptogamous plants, mosses, &c. 



385. Mono-cotyledons, such as have but one cotyledon, or lobe, 

 in the seed ; as the grasses, liliaceous plants, &c. 



386. Di-cotyledons, such plants, as have two cotyledons ; 

 they include the greatest proportion of vegetables : as the legu- 

 minous, the syngenesious, &c. 



387. Poly-cotyledons, those plants, the seeds of which have 

 more than two lobes : the number of these is small ; the hem- 

 lock and the pine are examples. 



388. The Embryo, is the most important part of the seed, as 

 it produces the new plant ; all other parts seem but subservient 

 to this, which is the point from whence the life and organiza- 

 tion of the future plant originate. In most dicotyledonous seeds, 

 as the bean, orange, and apple, the embryo may be plainly dis- 

 covered. Its internal structure, before it begins to vegetate, is 



382. What does Fig. 64 represent 1 



383. What are cotyledons'? 



384. What plants are called Acotyledons 



385. What are Monocotyledons 1 



386. What are Dicotyledons 7 



387. What are Poly coty ledons 1 



388. Give an account of the embryo. 



