THE PLANT WORLD 39 



nated by keeping them about half covered with earth, saturated, and at 

 tropical temperature. 



The germ of the nut is to be found under one of the so-called ' ' eyes ' ' 

 at the end. The longitudinal ridges separate the hard coat into three 

 parts, which evidently were once the three parts of an ovary which bore 

 three seeds, one for each division or carpel. The seeds have become 

 reduced to one, which fills all the space within the hard shell which is in 

 reality a part of the ovary wall. The fertile carpel may be detected as 

 the one lying in the largest angle formed by the divergent ridges at the 

 end of the nut. 



When the nuts are kept under proper cultural conditions for about 

 three months the first signs of germination will be evident by the appear- 

 ance of the shoot through the husk above and the roots below. By this 

 time the germ, which is in its resting condition cylindrical and lying 

 perpendicular to the surface of the nut, has elongated and pushed its 

 inner end into the cavity of the nut and the other end outward. The 

 outer end develops the stem and roots. The inner end expands into an 

 oval body which ultimately, after about ten months, fills the entire cavity. 

 This expanded inner end is the cotyledon, which functions as an absorb- 

 ing organ. Wherever this cotjdedon comes in contact with the meat of the 

 nut it softens, dissolves, and finally absorbs it. The surface of the organ is 

 covered with villiform structures and corrugations which give it much 

 the appearance of a stomach turned inside out, and as far as function goes 

 that is just what it amounts to. Wherever the endosperm has not been 

 attacked by the cotyledon it remains as palatable as ever and apparently 



unaltered. 



******** 



The food reserve in the cocoanut lasts about a year after germination 

 has begun. During this time the plant gets much of its nutriment from 

 the soil and the air. The proportion of water diminishes from the cotyle- 

 don to the tips of the leaves and there is a corresponding increase in the 

 amount of solid matter. The substance of the cotyledon, the stem and 

 the roots, contains much more mineral matter than is to be found in the 

 endosperm and the leaves. The problems of nutrition in this plant which 

 are suggested by these observations have not yet been attacked, but they 

 will no doubt afford some very interesting facts at some future date. — 

 J. E. Kirkwood, in School Science. 



At a recent meeting of the Torrey Botanical Club Dr. H. H. Rusby 

 described a curious floating orchid of the genus Habenaria which he 

 found in the Delta of the Orinoco. This plant was growing where the 

 water beneath was fifteen feet deep. 



