SEED. GERMINA'J ION 



i) 



immersed in the nutritive endosperm. The chiei store ol food is thi 



not in the germ itself, but in the surrounding tissue. 



The germination of the Castor-Oil seed corresponds in its external 

 features to that of the Charlock. But here the germ, lying in d 



Fig. 4. 



Castor oil [Ricinus communis). L, seed seen from ^S^bAhSSSkS 



tudinal and in transverse section, jv. v.^seedbng^s^d^buretbut^t^ 



still enveloped in endosperm, vi., . the , same t S^^" gl \^ stable, -d SeSng, 

 straightening, endosperm still adhering to cotyledons n^ -Jta^ 

 with expanded cotyledons and first plumular leaves. (| natural sue .) 



contact with the endosperm, extracts the food from it, and absorbs it 

 into itself, while the endosperm gradually shrivels. As the seed-coat 

 is thrown off, the cotyledons turn green and expand. Thi dry 

 mams of the endosperm may then be seen still for a tune adhering 

 to their lower surfaces; but ultimately it falls away. b tn< 



cotyledons act first as suctorial organs, and later expand into nourisl 

 ing green leaves. The root and shoot thus established may de> 

 further into a root-system and a shoot-system, as in previous 1 



